German corporations must demand that Russian extractive company Nornickel respect indigenous rights and environmental standards – or end business deals
After more than 21,000 tons of diesel leaked from a power plant tank in May 2020, causing the largest oil spill in the Russian Arctic to date, the company responsible, Nornickel (Norilsk Nickel), had to pay Russia’s highest fine to date.
In the satellite image, diesel oil spilled in the Ambarnaya River on May 31, 2020 is easily recognizable by its red color.
ESA, CC BY-SA IGO 3.0
But this is still a long way from repairing the damage, let alone addressing the causes. Weiterlesen
Permanent link to this article: https://www.kritischeaktionaere.de/en/human-rights-due-diligence/nornickels-ruthless-business-model-and-the-responsibility-of-german-corporations/
Our statement for the Annual General Meeting 2021 of Deutsche Bank
Dear Shareholders,
In 2015, Deutsche Bank vowed to support the Paris Agreement [1]. However, since then, Deutsche Bank’s actions have not matched its rhetoric.
Since the Paris Agreement was signed, Deutsche has been a major financier of coal, oil and gas. According to the Banking on Climate Chaos report, between 2016-2020, Deutsche provided US$30.438 billion to companies responsible for expanding fossil fuels [2]. These investments seriously undercut Deutsche Bank’s claims to support climate protection.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has been clear that limiting global warming to 1.5ºC avoids many of the more severe impacts that would occur at 2ºC of warming [3]. Weiterlesen
Permanent link to this article: https://www.kritischeaktionaere.de/en/deutsche-bank/deutsche-bank-must-listen-to-the-international-energy-agency-no-new-investments-in-fossil-fuels/
Uniper uses Energy Charter Treaty to stifle measures to combat climate crisis
Energy utility’s fossil gas strategy incompatible with UN Climate Agreement
Supply chain deals reveal weak Human Rights standards
Today, the Dutch government announced it was asking a German court whether the arbitration cases brought forward by RWE and Uniper have a legal basis. The two German utilities had recently filed compensation claims under the Energy Charter Treaty framework (ECT) against the Dutch state for its coal phase-out. The Netherlands’ announcement comes two days ahead of Uniper’s annual general meeting.
„The ministry is of the opinion that the Coal Prohibition Act has been carefully drawn up and is the result of thorough democratic decision-making, in which all interests have been carefully weighed.Weiterlesen
Permanent link to this article: https://www.kritischeaktionaere.de/en/uniper-2/two-days-ahead-of-unipers-agm-dutch-state-asks-german-court-to-review-legal-basis-for-compensation-claims/
Re Agenda Item 2: Ratification of the acts of management of the members of the Management Board for the 2020 financial year
Association of Ethical Shareholders Germany proposes that ratification of the acts of management of the Management Board be refused.
Reasons
The Management Board of Deutsche Bank continues to pursue a course of action that is incompatible with the goals of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.
Because it provides finance to the fossil fuels sector, Deutsche Bank is part of the problem
Although Deutsche Bank toughened up its environmental policies last July and has subjected a greater number of coal and other fossil fuel companies to review and exclusion, it still remains a significant source of finance for fossil fuels. Weiterlesen
Permanent link to this article: https://www.kritischeaktionaere.de/en/deutsche-bank/financing-the-fossil-energy-sector-makes-deutsche-bank-a-climate-offender-our-countermotion/
Questions on dividend and appropriation of net income:
Last year you made use of short-time working, but now you want to distribute a dividend of 2.00 euros per share and thus 86 million euros in total. In your dividend policy, have you taken into account the current situation with regard to short-time working allowance, that this is currently de facto tax-financed and therefore more of a state aid in the Corona crisis than an insurance benefit?
In your annual report, you state that you have saved personnel costs of 33 million euros through short-time working. According to trade union information, unlike the majority of other companies in the sector, you have not topped up your employees’ short-time allowances.
Permanent link to this article: https://www.kritischeaktionaere.de/en/rheinmetall-en/controversial-arms-exports-climate-protection-and-dividends-despite-short-time-working-our-questions-to-rheinmetall/
Gunarti (left) at the HeidelbergCement Annual General Meeting 2017
Gunarti is a mother, grandmother and farmer, like her parents and grandparents. Gunarti (who, like many people on the Indonesian island of Java, has only one name) belongs to the Samin indigenous group and is a member of the Network of People who Care about the Kendeng Mountains (JMPPK). JMPPK has been campaigning for years for the preservation of the karst mountains, which with their underground watercourses are indispensable for local agriculture. The construction of cement factories in the Kendeng Mountains, planned among others by Indocement, the subsidiary of the German HeidelbergCement, would deprive the local smallholders of their livelihood.Weiterlesen
Permanent link to this article: https://www.kritischeaktionaere.de/en/heidelbergcement-en/talk-to-us-and-see-for-yourselves-letter-from-gunarti-to-the-shareholders-of-heidelbergcement/
From 2023, legislation will rule how BASF must meet its own human rights due diligence obligations. Would the Supply Chain Act have helped BASF respond more seriously to the apparent abuses at its then largest platinum supplier, Lonmin, after the Marikana massacre nine years ago? The answer to this question exposes the advantages, but also the shortcomings, of the bill currently being debated in German parliament.
By Tilman Massa, Ethical Shareholders Germany
German companies have had long enough to prove that they voluntarily comply with UN standards on respecting human rights in their supply chains. After it finally became clear last year that over 80 percent were not even close to doing so, the German government drew the consequences and cleared the way for a legal regulation. Weiterlesen
Permanent link to this article: https://www.kritischeaktionaere.de/en/basf-se/would-it-have-made-a-difference-marikana-basf-and-the-supply-chain-act/
Re agenda item 2: Adoption of a resolution on the appropriation of profit
The Association of Ethical Shareholders Germany proposes that the appropriation of profit proposed by the management be rejected.
Rationale:
It doesn’t add up: BASF is repeating last year’s record dividend, while further job cuts are planned worldwide, even at its headquarters in Ludwigshafen. Significantly more of the unappropriated profit should be used for a future-oriented and at the same time socially just realignment of BASF without job cuts. While employees and entire companies have to bear the burden of the Corona pandemic, BASF is even privatizing the resulting profits. Weiterlesen
Permanent link to this article: https://www.kritischeaktionaere.de/en/basf-se/missed-climate-targets-untrustworthy-control-our-countermotions/
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