Page 13 - LatAmOil Week 45 2021

LatAmOil PARAGUAY LatAmOil

He continued: “With the framework in place, [dam].”
we can continue with Atome’s plan to install a ANDE president Felix Sosa also commented:
cutting-edge green hydrogen and ammonia “Paraguay’s energy must be used as the main
production plant in co-operation with the Tech- engine of the country’s economic and social
nological Park of Itaipu Binacional. On behalf of development and for this it is necessary that the
the ATOME team, I would like to reaffirm our industrial sector is further developed. We look
commitment to make strong and swift progress with great enthusiasm [to] the coming of inter-
to support Paraguay’s decarbonisation strategy national investments to Paraguay even more
and economic development, based on clean when they bet on innovative processes focused
and renewable energy supplied by [the] Itaipu on sustainable development.” ™

PERU
ING to stop financing oil and gas in Peru

THE Dutch lender ING Group has said it will no Ecuador earlier this year, as did several of its
longer finance the trading of crude oil and natu- peers including Credit Suisse and BNP Paribas.
ral gas in Peru, citing concerns about the impact Last year, the environmentalist groups Stand.
of the industry on indigenous people. earth and Amazon Watch published a report
The Amsterdam-based banking and finan- into oil exports from the Amazon to the United
cial services firm said it had taken this step in States, raising concerns over ethics.
view of the risks faced by native groups living in Global climate talks currently underway in
the Sacred Headwaters region of the Amazon, Scotland for the COP26 UN Climate Change
according to a policy document seen by Reuters. Conference have put more of a spotlight on the
“Indigenous people living in the Sacred role of fossil fuel companies in mitigating cli-
Headwaters of the Amazon in Ecuador and mate change. The Amazon region is seen as crit-
Peru have called on banks to stop financing oil ical to the battle against climate change because
development in the region, as it poses a threat to of the amount of greenhouse gases (GHG) it
them and the surrounding ecosystem,” Reuters absorbs. Critics say that rapid deforestation of
cited the policy document as saying. the Amazon will be catastrophic for climate and
“We have financed the trading of oil from biodiversity.
the region but decided in the beginning of 2021 In 2011, Peru’s government introduced the
not to enter into new contracts for exports from so-called prior consultation law, a landmark
Ecuador and decided in November 2021 not to move giving indigenous groups the right to
enter into contracts for exports from Peru,” the have a say in official decisions that could affect
company added. the land their communities live on. Last year, the
Although ING did not directly finance Peru- Peruvian judiciary requested a ban on oil explo-
vian oil and gas exploration and production, ration and exploitation in an indigenous region
it did finance deals that involve moving fossil of the Amazon, in an area where local tribes
fuels out of the country. The Dutch lender halted have long opposed the development of energy
financing for such transactions in neighbouring projects on their land. ™

Sacred Headwaters region (Image: SacredHeadwaters.org)

Week 45 11•November•2021 www. NEWSBASE .com P13