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Civil society groups and experts in rights and public accountability have hit out at the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) for failing to meet international standards in its latest accountability policy. 

Yesterday, Brazil’s National Agency of Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels (ANP) attempted to auction off 172 exploratory oil blocks. Spread across five sedimentary basins (Foz do Amazonas, Santos, Pelotas, Potiguar, and Parecis), the auction covered an area of 145,600 km² – a territory larger than Nicaragua. 

The introduction of new naming guidelines for ESG funds by the EU supervisory authority ESMA on May 21 should finally provide more clarity for consumers. A new analysis by Finanzwende, Urgewald and Facing Finance shows that instead of making their portfolios more sustainable and dropping shares in fossil fuel companies, many providers have simply renamed their funds. 

Today, on the occasion of the UBS Annual General Meeting, an alliance of climate and human rights organizations is protesting in front of the venue, the Lucerne Exhibition Centre (Messe Luzern). The following organizations are participating: Klimastreik Zentralschweiz, urgewald, Protect-VIP-Network, the collective BreakFree Schweiz and the Klima-Allianz Schweiz. 

Days before the UBS Annual General Meeting, a civil society alliance is drawing attention to the major Swiss bank's investment policy in the Philippines. UBS is one of the biggest institutional investors in the Philippine conglomerate San Miguel. The group plans to significantly expand the capacity of its domestic coal and gas-fired power plants. In doing so, it is hindering the Philippines’ energy transition, a country with remarkable renewable energy potential. 

Because Greenpeace USA showed solidarity with protests against the highly controversial Dakota Access Pipeline, the oil company behind the project, Energy Transfer (ET), sued the environmental organization. As a result, a North Dakota jury reached a verdict and a judge in the first instance found Greenpeace USA liable for $660 million worth of damages. The case is obviously a SLAPP suit (“Strategic Lawsuit against Public Participation”) which ET filed to silence a strong voice critical of its climate-wrecking business.