Export-Import Bank Sued by Environmental Groups for Coal Export Loan Guarantee

Columbia Law School's Climate Law Blog discusses a recent lawsuit by the NGO Earthjustice against US Ex-Im, regarding the Defendant's alleged failure to conduct an environmental assessment for a coal production related loan.

Climate Conversations - Norway’s government pension fund divests from palm oil producers

Norway’s government pension fund – one of the world’s largest – has withdrawn US$314 million in investments from a string of companies that it says produce palm oil “unsustainably”.

As AlertNet reports, in March, the Norwegian Government Pension Fund Global released its 2012 Annual Report announcing that it had sold its stakes in 23 of the world’s largest palm oil companies, reducing its investments in the Indonesian and Malaysian palm oil industry by more than 40 percent.

To Compliance and Beyond: Getting the Most From Global Incident Investigation

Michael Tooma and Michael Torrance write about global incident investigation in this month's Mining People and Environment magazine. For more information on this topic see my earlier blog post here on global incident investigation.

International Financial Law Review: The Sustainability Case Under the Equator Principles

The third iteration of the Equator Principles (EP) framework will be released in the first quarter of 2013. Like its predecessors, the revised framework will have substantial implications for billions of dollars in international financings. It will also reinforce the importance of environmental and social reviews in addressing legal and reputational risks facing Equator Principles Financial Institutions (EPFI). It makes it timely to reconsider the critical role legal counsel have in EP implementation.  This article examines the "sustainbility case" approach to Equator Principles implementation and the role of legal and regulatory oversight of that process. See article link HERE

Technical Revision of the World Bank Group Environmental, Health, and Safety Guidelines

The World Bank Group has begun a three-year process to review and update its Environmental, Health and Safety (EHS) Guidelines. More information can be found on the International Finance Corporation (IFC) website HERE.

The EHS Guidelines are technical reference documents with general and industry-specific examples of Good International Industry Practice (GIIP). They contain the performance levels and measures that are normally acceptable to the World Bank Group, and that are generally considered to be achievable in new facilities at reasonable costs by existing technology. They are used by the World Bank, IFC and Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA).