Ending the secrecy culture in public finance
Development finance is meant to benefit communities, climate and environment, but often enables some of the most destructive activities on earth.
The climate emergency and the alarming loss of the planet’s biodiversity are being compounded by ill-conceived, large-scale infrastructure projects, many of which are funded by public money. These include the construction of fossil-fuel-powered electricity generation plants that will generate greenhouse gases and pollution for decades to come, along with large hydro-power dams, mining projects and export corridors that slice through some of the world’s few remaining wild areas, intact forests, agricultural lands, and coastal areas.
Just finance International works to ensure that government-mandated finance and the flow of international financial support both catalyse climate and ecological justice and support the rights of resource-dependent communities.
What we work on:
Just Finance International responds to TotalEnergies’ comments
In December 2022, TotalEnergies submitted several misleading comments in response JFI’s report, Risk of poverty after land acquisitions for Uganda’s mega oil pipeline to the Business and Human Rights Centre website. Together with our Ugandan partner, the Environment Governance Institute, JFI set the record straight.
East African crude oil pipeline
Environment protection on hold as work to extract oil starts in Uganda
The construction of the world’s longest heated crude oil pipeline between Uganda’s Lake Albert and the shoreline of Tanzania is threatening the livelihoods of hundreds of families and the environment in one of the most ecologically diverse and wildlife-rich regions of the world.
Thousands forced to leave their homes
A large-scale tourism project in Indonesia’s Lombok Island has become a nightmare for the coastal Indigenous Sasak communities. Thousands have been forced by the government and armed security forces to leave their homes for temporary resettlements unfit to support their livelihoods, while others still face intimidation and reprisals three and a half years after the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) started financing the project.
NGOs Demand End to AIIB Financing of Indonesian Tourism Project
The Coalition for Monitoring Indonesia’s Infrastructure Development and supporting NGOs call on the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), the Indonesia Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC) and the Indonesian Government to stop AIIB financing for the quarter-billion dollar Mandalika Urban Development and Tourism Project. A letter, from Olivier De Schutter, the UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, questions the AIIB, ITDC and the government of Indonesia over alleged human rights violations in connection to the project.
The Beijing-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) opened for business in 2016 and rapidly became a major actor in global finance
The participation of Europe’s largest economies as founding members of the AIIB was critical to the AIIB obtaining a triple-A credit rating from the world’s leading rating agencies. Our paper examines the institution’s transparency issues against the backdrop of its close alignment with China, the concentration of decision-making power in its President, as the institution positions itself to enter a dynamic growth phase.
Local residents at risk after China’s Zijin triples production in Serbia
Bor, in north-eastern Serbia, is one of the country’s most polluted cities. While local people protest their toxic air and water, Chinese mining company Zijin, which runs the city’s large-scale copper mining and smelting complex, is expanding its operations without permits, local consent or transparency.
China’s 2021 “international coal-exit’’ pledge: a transparency problem
China’s pledge to stop building new coal-fired power plants abroad, announced during the UN General Assembly in September 2021 – and reiterated during a EU-China dialogue on climate in October 2021 – was met with enthusiasm. Yet, half a year later, little is known about the extent of China’s rollback of its overseas coal projects.
Deceptive feasibility studies for new coal power plants in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Three new coal power plants are planned in Bosnia Herzegovina, all potentially financed by Chinese companies. Just Finance has examined the assessments for Tuzla 7 and Ugljevik III, and found 11 serious errors or false assumptions in the pre-studies.
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