WestLB a Member of the Consortium Financing the Toka Tindung Gold Mine Project
Environmental and social standards are complied with
WestLB is a member of the consortium financing the Toka Tindung gold mine project in Indonesia. In the financing of the mining project, WestLB takes strict care that (a) all national environmental and social regulations are complied with, (b) all necessary authorizations in the environmental and social field are obtained, and (c) the frequently stricter, internationally recognised environmental and social commitments of the Equator Principles are observed.
Independent, international experts specifically appointed by WestLB have concluded that the standards referred to above will be complied with. Moreover, our client ensures that not only the public commitments are complied with, but that the project and the individual parts of the project are implemented after paying due consideration to the concerns of the local population.
The seriousness with which our client and the national authorities pay due regard to the environmental and social aspects involved is evidenced by the following example: The client – in close cooperation with the financing banks and at considerable extra cost – switched over from a sea-based to a land-based system for removing the excavated waste material after concerns had been expressed among parts of the population, notably by local fishermen. This proves that the presence of international banks increases the transparency of projects of this type and, in addition, guarantees that the highest international environmental and social standards are applied.
WestLB is a member of the UN Global Compact and the Financial Initiative of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). As such, it has undertaken voluntarily to ensure that international environmental and social standards are complied with in all financings. At the same time WestLB developed international environmental and social standards for its project finance business – the so-called Equator Principles – with three other banks and in cooperation with the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the World Bank subsidiary. Under the Equator Principles, WestLB requires its clients to comply with the environmental and social regulations of the World Bank and the IFC in project financings, even if these should be noticeably stricter than the national regulations in the project host countries. Compliance with these strict environmental and social commitments is continuously monitored for each project, also by the independent Sustainability Management Department. For these achievements in the field of sustainable banking business and in particular for taking account of environmental and social risks, WestLB received the prestigious Sustainable Bankers of the Year Award of the Financial Times and the IFC in 2006.
WestLB maintains regular contact with non-governmental organisations to discuss cooperation and possible critical aspects. In recent years the constructive dialogue with non-governmental organisations developed positively and has been “institutionalized” by the “Dialogue Forum on Sustainability”. We provided detailed replies to all questions posed by non-governmental organisations in connection with the Toka Tindung project and declared our willingness to provide information and discuss related issues on an ongoing basis. We regret in this connection that a small number of non-governmental organisations have so far declined to enter into a constructive dialogue. Notwithstanding this, we continue to be available to all special interest groups for an open and constructive dialogue.
General information on sustainability at WestLB and on our management of environmental and social risks is contained in our Sustainability Report.