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Let's be friendsPeople & Planet vs. The Treasury
Judicial Review: when a court of law reviews the actions and decisions of a government (though not laws passed by parliament). The court has the power to overturn unlawful acts or decisions.
“Roll up to vote for climate chaos!”
Image © Philip Kirk
People & Planet, alongside World Development Movement (WDM) and Platform, are taking the Treasury to court seeking a Judicial Review to stop the Royal Bank of Scotland pouring money into projects which are linked to climate change, environmental destruction and human rights violations. We believe the government has failed to do a proper assessment of the environmental, climate change and human rights impact of the way RBS-NatWest runs its business.
Since its initial bail out by the Treasury in October 2008, the Royal Bank of Scotland (which own NatWest) have invested $10 billion into fossil fuel projects and companies. This includes oil exploration in the arctic and drilling for oil on the conflict-ridden Democratic Republic of Congo-Ugandan boarder. The UK government bailed out RBS without any environmental and climate change risk assessment, and despite owning 84% of the bank’s shares it continues to do nothing about investments which have a reckless disregard for the impact on climate change and the protection of fragile and precious eco-systems. There are laws about the processes the government should go through when spending public money. We believe that, by failing to sufficiently check for the environmental and human rights impacts of this spending, that the government has broken these laws.
On 20 October, a High Court judge blocked our application for judicial review, allowing the Treasury and RBS to continue ignoring the climate change and human rights impacts of their investments. We believe this decision is both flawed and dangerous, and will be taking our case to the Court of Appeal.
People & Planet say enough is enough!
You can support the legal challenge by taking action now.
What should the Treasury be doing?
We are not questioning the government’s decision to bail out RBS. What we are focussing on is the way the government exercises its responsibilities so that RBS delivers sustainable benefits on behalf of the public. The Treasury has a fantastic opportunity to encourage and support a rapid but managed transition to a low carbon economy. It can do this by ensuring that RBS is investing in renewable energy, not high-risk and high carbon projects. Instead, the Treasury is allowing RBS-NatWest’s investments to lock the world into a continuing dependency on fossil fuels. There is a profound inconsistency at the heart of the government’s approach to its RBS share ownership. On the one hand, ministers publicly recognise the dangers and threats of climate change and proclaim their commitment to making the UK a global leader in promoting the transition to a low carbon future. On the other hand, when they have a real opportunity to direct significant investment flows out of fossil fuels and into renewable energies,they dither. We need to help the Treasury to be a force for good in combating climate change. HM Treasury should use its ownership and control over RBS to ensure that its investments are consistent with the governments commitments on tackling climate change, nationally and internationally.
We have commissioned and published a report showing the business case for shifting RBS investments away from the dirtiest projects and companies towards those that will support the development of a low-carbon economy. Download Towards a Royal Bank of Sustainability: protecting taxpayers, cutting carbon risk
What can you do?
Make a quick donation using the form on the right to help us make the most of the campaigning opportunities the court case will create. Full appeal text.
Sign our petition to the Treasury and ask them to clean up RBS
For more information contact Adam Ramsay at the People & Planet office.
