Rathbone Greenbank Investments meets with BP to discuss its involvement in Canadian tar sands
20th August 2008
Perry Rudd and Matt Crossman of Rathbone Greenbank Investments met with representatives of BP to discuss the company’s controversial move into the Canadian tar sands project. Also present in the meeting was Miles Litvinoff of the Ecumenical Council for Corporate Responsibility (ECCR), who, with Rathbone Greenbank Investments, was instrumental in asking questions about the tar sands investment at this year’s AGM . We discussed the considerable social and environmental impacts arising from the tar sands development, with Rathbone Greenbank Investments keen to stress the risks of such a carbon intensive form of oil extraction and also the dangers of relying on carbon capture to mitigate the worst effects of the tar sands projects.
The issue is being widely take up among the socially responsible investment community, with The Co-Operative Financial Services (CFS) and WWF, the global conservation organisation, co-authoring a report making clear the full environmental costs associated with developing so-called ‘unconventional oil’. UK Social Investment Forum (UKSIF) will be hosting a meeting on the issue in September, at which Rathbone Greenbank Investments will be represented, to discuss further the risks associated with tar sands development.