MEDIA RELEASE
Canadian churches launch national campaign
to reform the Export Development Corporation
(Oct. 4, 2000 – OTTAWA) Members of the Canadian Ecumenical Jubilee Initiative (CEJI) concerned about the negative impact that EDC-supported projects have had on people and the environment, launched a campaign today to reform the Export Development Act, the statute governing the Export Development Corporation (EDC).
Terrie O' Leary
Executive Director for Canada
World Bank Group
1818 H St. NW
Washington, DC 20433
June 4, 2000
Dear Ms. O' Leary,
We are writing to express our serious concerns related to a proposed IFC investment, the Niger Delta Contractor Revolving Credit Facility, and to urge you to vote against this project. This project involves IFC and the Shell Petroleum Development Company teaming up to provide credit to Nigerian contractors who are providing services to Shell.
PUBLICATION The Ottawa Citizen
DATE Sun 19 Mar 2000
EDITION FINAL
SECTION/CATEGORY News
PAGE NUMBER A1 / Front
BYLINE Paul McKay
STORY LENGTH 1308
HEADLINE: `This is a race to the bottom': Crown agency spends billions secretly backing environmentally destructive projects others won't touch Export Development Corp. `will do anything,' critic says; EDC VP insists agency `routinely' turns down projects that are environmentally `risky'
Click here for full report i
Prepared by the NGO Working Group on the Export Development Corporation, a project of the Halifax Initiative
The Canadian Export Development Corporation (EDC) is the main source of publicly supported export financing in Canada, designed to complement the private financial sector wherever possible. A federal Crown corporation, EDC provides Canadian exporters with financing products to help their customers, and with commercial and political risk insurance, particularly for higher-risk and emerging markets. In 1998, EDC worked with 4,183 customers in 200 countries, helping Canadian companies to generate nearly $35 billion in sales and foreign investments.
In 1999, Amnesty International raised alarms about the killing of four indigenous peopl
Click here for pdf
In 1999, Amnesty International raised alarms about the killing of four indigenous people protesting a hydroelectric dam in Colombia that has devastated their food source and, if completed, would flood most of their land.
In 1998, an accident at a mine in Kyrgystan resulted in two tons of cyanide entering a river. A lack of an emergency response plan worsened the disaster, leaving two people dead and over 600 hospitalized.
Export credit agencies seek to improve environmental standards
Thursday, September 23, 1999
By The Canadian Press
OTTAWA (CP) -- Export credit agencies, which finance many of the world's biggest industrial projects, are trying to agree on stricter standards for environmental assessment. Officials from about 20 government-owned credit agencies, including Canada's Export Development Corp., met here Thursday to discuss the environment issue, while activists denounced the record to date.
