Campaign highlights business risks of pension fund investments in irresponsible mining projects
Two charities are today (Wednesday 21st May) launching a campaign to UK pension funds and fund managers to brief them on investment risks arising from inadequate analysis of human rights and environmental impacts of mining projects in developing countries.
The Catholic aid agency, CAFOD, has teamed-up with FairPensions, a charity which promotes responsible investment by pension funds and fund managers.
The two organisations are now sending briefings to approximately 400 large UK pension funds and asset managers and asking whether risks are being properly assessed and companies engaged with where concerns arise.
Together CAFOD and FairPensions have produced their own risk analyses and case studies.
CAFOD is urging its supporters to contact their own pension funds about the impact of mining projects on local communities as well as the potential impact on returns arising from systemic failures of risk-management of environmental and human rights issues.
The campaign focuses on the gaps between companies' policies and their actual implementation on the ground, especially in areas new to the companies, in joint ventures and where work is sub-contracted.
CAFOD's interest stems from its work with partner agencies in Africa, Asia and Latin America which have found cases of mining projects creating conflicts between rival militias, causing dangerous levels of arsenic and cyanide in drinking water, and families forced from their homes without warning to make way for mines.
The two charities emphasise that they do not seek disinvestment, and although CAFOD's concern is an ethical one, these issues also highlight systemic material business risks.
Duncan Exley, Director of Campaigns at FairPensions, said: "Most pension funds have sizeable investments in mining companies, and we urge them to ask fund managers whether the risks we and CAFOD have highlighted are being properly analysed and acted upon".
Rashmi Mistry, Head of Campaigns at CAFOD, said: "Mining is a growing industry in developing countries but we believe that it should not endanger the lives and environments of people who are already impoverished. The vast majority of our pension funds have investments in mining companies, so we're encouraging CAFOD supporters to exercise their right to raise concerns over the practices of mining companies."
Notes
- CAFOD is the Catholic Agency for Overseas Development, working with communities in over 50 countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America, supporting people to find their own solutions to poverty. The agency works with all people regardless of race, gender or religion.
- The launch of new campaign action coincides with the start of CAFOD's Pure Gold? photography exhibition, in central London, at the Oxo Gallery. The exhibition displays powerful images from DRC, Honduras and Philippines showing how mining affects communities on the ground. Visitors will be able to join the campaign. Exhibition details: 21 May - 1 June 2008, 11am-6pm daily the.gallery@oxo, Oxo Tower Wharf, Bargehouse Street, London SE1 9PH Admission free, Nearest train/tube: Blackfriars, Southwark, Waterloo. Information 020 7095 5561 / www.cafodpuregold.net