The Equator Principles, a four-year-old initiative set up by big banks to consider the social and environmental impacts of global project finance, now regulate more than 85% of this niche market, according to the EPs’ statistics.

Although small in global finance flow terms, project finance is a high profile business for both banks that arrange the money, and the companies who set up the deals and run the projects on the ground. While the economic and political risks of oil, gas and mining projects around the world have always been significant, in modern times NGO campaigns have added real reputational risk to the financing mix.

Based on social and environmental impacts, which often have unintended economic and development consequences, NGO campaigns against big projects such as the BP led Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan Turkish oil pipeline and the formerly Shell-led Sakhalin II oil and gas project have attracted considerable attention.

Upcoming Ethical Corporation conferences & events:
How to manage Social & Environmental Risk in the mining, oil & gas, steel and other heavy industries
London, 22-23 March 2010 The Responsible Business Summit 2010
Novotel West Hotel, London, 4th – 5th May 2010 The Inaugural Ethical Corporation Awards
Novotel West Hotel, London, Evening of 4th May 2010
The Awards will be held at the Responsible Summit -
on the evening of the first day
Please login to view whole article - or subscribe here.
For a free two week trial to Ethical Corporation online, please click here.