by Guest

contribution by Adam Ramsay

Today we will serve the Treasury with legal proceedings. We are trying to stop them allowing RBS to pump public money into fossil fuel projects driving us towards climate catastrophe.

As I discussed a week ago, the Royal Bank of Scotland have long been Europe’s dirtiest bank. Since the bail-out just over a year ago, they have poured billions of pounds of public money into fossil fuel extraction projects driving wars, human rights abuses and climate change around the world.

Their climate impact is so high that, according to this recent report (pdf) the government could potentially do more about global emissions through active ownership of RBS than through all UK domestic activity.

They have also funded, with our money, projects which risk: inflaming wars in central Africa, destroying pristine arctic wilderness and systematically abuse workers.

We thought there must be laws to prevent such abuses of public money. It turns out that there are.



The Green Book is a set of guidelines about the cost-benefit analysis the government has to go through when it takes a major decision.

The book makes it clear that environmental impacts must be considered.

And so we have been engaged in a long running legal battle with the Treasury, challenging their failure to properly assess the impacts of their laissez faire approach to RBS’ strategic decision to become the major financier of the fossil fuel extraction industry driving us to the brink of climate catastrophe.

And despite this legal case, the government has failed to budge. In November, they once more bailed out RBS. And once again, they imposed no conditions preventing the bank from funding with our money some of the most destructive projects on Earth.

And so, once more, we will see them in court. As a network of students and young people, joining with two relatively small NGOs this is not something we do lightly. But for us, this case is not about the abstract notion of future changes to the earth’s climatic systems.

For us, climate change is personal. The second half of my life will be defined by decisions made in the next few years. And we will not, without a fight, allow Alistair Darling to shrug as billions of pounds of our money is used to prop up the very projects endangering our future.

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Adam Ramsay works for student campaigning network People & Planet. Along with The World Development Movement and Platform they are taking the Treasury to court.