Major banks operating in Thailand and Vietnam aren’t doing enough to address the environmental and human rights consequences of their investments in large-scale hydropower dams along the Mekong River, according to a new report. The report, by Fair Finance Asia, a network of more than 90 civil society organizations led by Oxfam, and Netherlands-based sustainability research organization Profundo, scrutinized the policies of three banks based in Thailand and three based in Vietnam, including their capacity to uphold their publicly stated environmental, social and governance (ESG) commitments. The findings reveal regulatory shortcomings at national and regional levels that fail to hold banks accountable for their investment decisions. The report also uncovered a lack of meaningful implementation of international standards in environmental and human rights among Mekong hydropower funders. Given that the power purchase agreements that essentially greenlight hydropower projects ultimately hinge on the availability of long-term funding, the report says banks and investors play an important role in ensuring that environmental and social safeguards are implemented by companies during the construction, operation and decommissioning of hydropower plants. The water in Tonle Sap Lake in Cambodia, home of one of the world’s largest inland fisheries, is channeled from the Mekong and its tributary during the wet season. Image by Carolyn Cowan/Mongabay. Experts are calling on banks and investors to adopt more sustainable banking policies and practices when deciding which projects to support. In particular, they call on the region’s financial institutions to align their practices with international standards. “Large hydropower infrastructure projects…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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