2010
Losing the plot: Jatropha in India
Friends of the Earth Europe, January 2010: As India’s economy has grown, its energy demand has increased rapidly and the Indian government has looked to alternative supplies, including biofuels. The jatropha plant – a bush native to South America which grows in dry areas and can produce oil-rich seeds – has been identified as an ideal source of biodiesel, with a target set to replace 20% of diesel consumption by 2017. However, evidence suggests that jatropha grown in its present form is unlikely to deliver the benefits its supporters have promised.
Capitalizing on climate: The World Bank's Role in Climate Change & International Climate Finance
Friends of the Earth United States, June 2010: This report examines the various, and often contradictory, roles played by the World Bank – a major climate polluter and driver of deforestation, an institution attempting to address climate change, a political tool used by developed countries in UN climate negotiations to maintain control over international climate finance, a supposed defender of developing country interests, and an institution asserting itself to capture as much short term (and, by extension, long term) climate finance as possible.
Working for development? ArcelorMittal’s mining operations in Liberia
Friends of the Earth Europe and Liberia, June 2010: This report takes a closer and more in depth look at Arcelor Mittal's activities in Liberia in terms of their contribution to the country's development. Time and again, ArcelorMittal has claimed that their Liberia operation is the successful example of their corporate social responsibility strategies and community engagement. This report looks into those claims and sees how far communities have benefited from their activities.
the jatropha trap? the realities of farming jatropha in mozambique
Friends of the Earth International, September 2010: In Mozambique, the debate on agrofuels has advanced steadily over the last five years, fueled by industry speculation and demand, grand promises, and foreign interests. Meanwhile the Mozambican government is rushing to create favourable conditions for investors in the industry as quickly as possible, at the expense of Mozambicans' civil rights. This study evaluates jatropha production in Mozambique and highlights the significant gap between the rhetoric and reality.
Lobbying in Brussels - How much do the top 50 companies in the EU spend?
Friends of the Earth Europe, April 2010: Lobbying in Brussels by Europe's 50 largest companies is happening in secret despite attempts to secure transparency, confirms new research by Friends of the Earth Europe.
Tar sands: Fuelling the climate crisis, undermining EU energy security and damaging development objectives
Friends of the Earth Europe, May 2010: A new report warns that global development of tar sands will magnify the climate crisis and damage the EU’s environment and development objectives.
Calling the EU's bluff: who are the real champions of biodiversity?
Friends of the Earth Europe and Latin American, December 2009: Global Europe and the EU's Raw Materials Initiative are designed to bolster the EU's economic position – whatever the cost – in the face of fierce global competition for both markets and resources, especially from emerging economies such as China and India. The EU also fears losing trade to the US, which has already secured trade and investment concessions from countries in the Western hemisphere, through the Dominican Republic-Central American Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA) and other bilateral trade agreements.
Europe's demand for palm oil driving deforestation and land-grabbing
Friends of the Earth Europe/Netherlands, March 2010: One of the leading suppliers of "green" palm oil to Europe is causing illegal encroachment upon Indonesian forest and peat land, according to a report published by Friends of the Earth Europe. This report exposes the illegal activities of the Malaysian showcase company IOI Group and shows that the increasing demand in Europe for palm oil in food and biofuels is leading to deforestation, breaches of environmental law and land conflicts in Asia.
Who benefits from GM crops? 2010
Friends of the Earth International, September 2010: Every year, the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications, which is partly funded by the biotech industry, publishes figures on the cultivation of GM crops around the world. This annual review is never short on hyperbole. In response we publish a fully referenced report analysing the area of GM crops in the world, and providing evidence on their impacts in the countries that have planted them.
Position paper: plantations are not forests
Friends of the Earth International, July 2010: Tree plantations are not forests. They are a monoculture which causes huge impacts throughout the world. Plantations are a huge number of very rapidly growing single species of trees of the same age that are sawn to occupy considerable land areas, with very high consumption of soil nutrients and water. When they reach their reproductive cycle, they are all cut down to the ground.
Background paper: free trade and plantations
Friends of the Earth International, July 2010: Bilateral or multilateral free trade agreements have been signed or are being negotiated in many countries. All these agreements have impacts on the peoples, nature and the society. At the same time, they represent legal frameworks that perpetuate a development model that promotes exploitation, unfairness and inequality, while securing rights for corporations.
What is environmental justice?
Friends of the Earth England, Wales and Northern Ireland, August 2010: Friends of the Earth believes that tackling environmental injustice will not only protect people, but also the natural world. If you have healthy people, you get a healthy planet. But to do this we have to get to grips with some big problems.
Africa: up for grabs
Friends of the Earth Europe and Africa, August 2010: The African continent is increasingly being seen as a source of agricultural land and natural resources for the rest of the world. National governments and private companies are obtaining access to land across the continent to grow crops for food and fuel to meet growing demand from mainly overseas countries. This report discusses the scale and impact of land grabbing for agrofuels.
The EU Emissions Trading System: failing to deliver
Friends of the Earth Europe, November 2010: Reliance on the EU-ETS leaves Europe failing to meet its share of the climate challenge, and obstructing real action.
Double standard: Shell practices in Nigeria compared with international standards
Friends of the Earth Netherlands / Professor Richard Steiner Anchorage, Alaska USA, November 2010: Shell practices in Nigeria compared with international standards to prevent and control pipeline oil spills and the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
redd: the realities in black and white
Friends of the Earth International, November 2010: When it comes to climate change, REDD is the couleur dujour. "Reducing Emissions from Deforestation in Developing Countries” holds out the enticing prospect of mitigating climate change, conserving threatened biodiversity, and bringing much-needed development finance to poor Indigenous Peoples and local forest-dwelling communities - at the same time as offering significant profits to investors. All this immediately begs the question: is REDD too good to be true?
Nanotechnology, climate and energy: over-heated promises and hot air?
Friends of the Earth International, November 2010: Very few people have looked beyond the shiny promise of nanotechnology to try and understand how this far-reaching new technique is actually developing. This report takes a glimpse inside and offers a judicious and balanced account of a subject we need very much to be thinking about.
the abc of climate finance
Friends of the Earth International, December 2010: The involvement of annex 1 countries, banks and companies in climate finance.
Clearing the air - summary
Friends of the Earth England, Wales and Northern Ireland, December 2010: Moving on from carbon trading to real climate solutions.
Clearing the air
Friends of the Earth England, Wales and Northern Ireland, December 2010: Moving on from carbon trading to real climate solutions.
The financing of Stora Enso
Prepared for Friends of the Earth International, May 2010: The objective of this report is to analyse the financial stakeholders of the Finish-Swedish paper and pulp producer Stora Enso. Significant shareholders and bondholders and all private and public banks which have been involved in loans to and stock issuances by Stora Enso in the past three years, have been identified.
What you should know about Stora Enso
Friends of the Earth Brazil and Uruguay, 2010: Factsheet on Stora Enso's activities in South America.
