Posted on 15 August
2013 | Wellington: A new WWF report released
today shows that two of the largest state-owned
investment agencies in New Zealand have
over a billion NZ dollars (1 NZD = 0.803805
USD) invested in the fossil fuel industry
worldwide.
The report, Fossil Fuel
Finance in NZ: The Superannuation Fund and
ACC, released today as part of WWF’s ongoing
Seize Your Power campaign shows the one
billion is from total assets of 40 billion.
With over three quarters
of existing fossil fuel reserves needing
to remain unburned to avoid catastrophic
climate impacts, the report sets out how
this investment is dangerous for our future,
while reiterating WWF’s global call to ramp
up investment in renewable energy and decrease
investment in coal, oil and gas.
’We’re at the start
of a big change, a move away from fossil
fuels and towards the cleaner, renewable
future scientists tell us we must have.
WWF asks New Zealand and its citizens to
be part of that change and invest in the
future. It makes sense now, ethically and
financially, to invest more in renewables
and phase out coal-based energy systems’’,
said Samantha Smith, Leader of WWF’s Global
Climate and Energy Initiative.
Recent announcements
by the World Bank and European Investment
Bank to nearly eliminate financing of coal
plants are critical signs of a growing wave
against coal and for its alternatives, renewable
energy and energy efficiency. Though coal
is the world’s predominant source of electricity,
it is also the most polluting, posing a
huge threat both to our global climate and
to human health.
“Over $1billion of New
Zealanders’ pension and accident insurance
money is invested in coal, oil and gas companies.
Yet their on-going profitability depends
on digging up and burning the un-burnable:
fossil fuels that have to remain untouched
if we are to avoid ever greater climate
change,” said Peter Hardstaff, WWF-New Zealand’s
Head of Campaigns
SuperFund’s direct holdings
include Soco International PLC, which is
currently the focus of a global WWF campaign
to stop them prospecting for oil in Virunga
National Park, Africa’s oldest and most
biodiverse national park (2).
Both SuperFund and ACC
hold shares in Shell, which is under pressure
for drilling in the Arctic; Anadarko, the
Texan oil company with permits to drill
in New Zealand’s deep waters, including
the Pegasus Basin and the Great South Basin;
and BP which was involved in the ‘Deepwater
Horizon’ disaster off the Gulf of Mexico.
Investing in fossil
fuels is increasingly being recognised by
international ratings agencies as financially
risky.
UK analysts Carbon Tracker
have documented how the finance industry
is creating a ‘carbon bubble’ which is set
to burst, causing significant loss of value
to these companies (3).
“We urge not only SuperFund
and ACC but all NZ financial institutions
to start divesting from fossil fuels, beginning
with the most polluting such as coal and
tar sands, and increase investments in clean
energy. Our money should work to protect
our future rather than threaten it further,”
said Hardstaff.
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Virunga's hydropower
potential
Posted on 20 August
2013 | Virunga National Park’s first hydropower
plant has started to generate electricity
this week. The Mutwanga hydroelectric facility
will provide clean energy to rural communities
that depend on Africa’s oldest national
park, authorities say.
Most residents in the
area currently rely on dirty and dangerous
coal stoves for cooking. Gathering of wood
for charcoal is time consuming and has led
to deforestation in Virunga, which is Africa’s
most biodiverse protected area.
“This is a huge breakthrough
for the park in terms of promoting socio-economic
development, and ultimately peace and security,”
park officials said. “The revenue that will
be generated by the Mutwanga hydroelectric
plant is also a big first step on the path
toward helping the park fund operations
even when tourism is closed by conflict.”
A report commissioned
by WWF found that development of three hydropower
plants in Virunga National Park could be
the source of 10,000 permanent jobs. Adding
two more facilities could also double the
amount of power available to people in the
area. “Access to electricity has been recognized
to have substantial benefits for poverty
reduction, promotion of production, health
and education,” according to The Economic
Value of Virunga National Park.
Sustainable economic
development of Virunga, including fishing,
hydropower, ecotourism, has the potential
to reach an annual value of $1.1 billion,
the report concluded. However, 85% of the
park has been allocated as oil concessions.
Oil extraction could lead to devastating
environmental and social impacts. WWF is
urging UK-based Soco International PLC to
abandon plans to explore for oil within
Virunga National Park, which is a World
Heritage Site.
