This week's SchNEWS - ETHICAL CLEANSING

“CIS views this as an unacceptable position for an energy company, and one that could harm long-term shareholder value.” - CIS’ greenwash team give ExxonMobil a firm ticking off for climate crimes then increase their investment.

Two weeks ago (See SchNEWS 537) we told you about the Co-operative Bank’s decision to sneakily invest in Glaxosmithkline and Vodafone - and the mail bag was soon full of requests from readers for more info. Well, as yer ever-obliging newssheet…

Since 1992, the Bank has supposedly followed an ethical investment policy which is supposed to offer people (all increasingly being forced to use bank accounts), somewhere environmentally friendly to stash their cash. In this promotion of ‘capitalism-lite’, the Co-op is joined by a handful of smaller banks like the Ecology Building Society and Triodos, but its preference for larger profits has led it to compete with the real bad guys at places like Barclays and NatWest. Co-op bosses have realised that they can’t make profits big enough to impress City fat cats without dancing with the devil themselves and hence their decision to invest in Glaxo Smithkline and Vodafone.

The Co-op, proud sponsors of police propaganda show ‘the Bill’, says that it won’t invest your cash in companies up to no good. The bank says it does not deal with companies that “participate in armaments, animal testing for cosmetics, nuclear power, tobacco or companies that operate in countries where human rights are disregarded.” Co-op propagandists have been careful with their words as the statement does not prevent investment in companies that perform more general tests on animals and nor does it give much mention to how corporations should behave towards the environment. Not that their investment decisions actually meet the standards that have been set by their policy, anyway.

Their latest ‘tax-efficient’ investment promises great returns - without harming the environment, animals or other people. According to the bank you can enjoy “strong growth and a clear conscience” by opening a CIS Sustainable Leaders Trust investment. One of the reasons for the ‘great return’ is the decision to allow investment in Glaxo and Vodafone, two of the world’s most profitable companies. A delve into the activities of these companies, though, leaves us wondering where the ‘clear conscience’ bit comes in.

Bank bosses are pretty chuffed with their pals in the world’s largest pharmaceutical company, Glaxo. Anyone suggesting that anything about this profit-hungry transnational giant is ‘ethical’ is having a laugh. With a bit of spin however Glaxo become a centre of benevolence because they have “invested in research into treating HIV/AIDS, malaria and TB”. They’ve also been “supplying vaccines to prevent illness”. Err, sorry if we’ve got this one wrong, but isn’t that what pharmaceutical companies should be doing: investigating the causes of disease and ways to cure them? More cheers are offered for the company’s “discounted pricing policy for developing countries” and “ensuring good conduct in animal testing”.
DIRTY MONEY

According to Factory Watch (www.foe.co.uk/factorywatch), Glaxo’s chemical plant in Ulverston, Cumbria, is one of the most carcinogenic polluters in the UK. Well that’s the environment covered. So what about animal testing? Well, Glaxo are Huntingdon Death Science’s single largest customer, so ‘nuff said there too. Then there’s witholding lifesaving treatments from developing countries. Glaxo was one of thirty-nine major pharma companies which tried to prosecute the South African government for passing a law that allowed easy production and importation of ‘generic’ drugs for HIV. They didn’t back down until 300,000 people from over 130 countries signed a petition against the action. Glaxo have also been at the forefront of legal attempts to enforce their patent rights under the World Trade Organisation’s ‘Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights’ (TRIPS - see SchNEWS 420) laws. Despite the Indian government’s attempts to control the spread of diseases, such as AIDS by creating copy or ‘generic’ (i.e. cheaper) versions of commercially available drugs, TRIPS has encouraged corporations to call India a ‘centre of commercial piracy’, simply for trying to cure disease amongst its poverty stricken population.

People in developing countries represent 80% of the world’s population yet they only account for 20% of worldwide medicine sales. “Of all annual health related research” says an Oxfam report on Glaxo from 2001, “only 0.2 per cent is spent on pneumonia, diarrhoea, and tuberculosis-three poverty related ailments which account for 18 per cent of the global disease burden.”

And then there’s Glaxo’s interest in the weaponry biz... at least Chief Executive J.P. Garnier’s, anyway. This £2.5 million-a-year corporate lackey also happens to sit on the board of arms manufacturer United Technologies, the maker of the Blackhawk helicopter and other assorted killing machines.
Vodafone, though, doesn’t invest in the arms trade. The company ‘only’ supplies telephones to the British military and, after all, a quick glance over to Iraq tells us that British forces are a force for democracy and justice - and if they want to make a phone call to help them co-ordinate a bombing run targeted against a local water supply, or some civilian ‘insurgency hotbed’ then why not?

Vodafone also receives a co-operative pat on the back for “Investigating the impact of mobile phones on society and the environment.” So now we know that we can’t spll anymr and changing your phone once a year creates a bit of a rubbish problem. Nice one. Maybe Co-op bankers missed the bit about not investing in companies that trade in countries with poor human rights records, because Vodafone’s nice little earner in Kuwait seems to have passed the ethical test. Despite the bank offering an “Amnesty International ‘affinity’ credit”, bankers obviously haven’t read the Kuwait section of AI’s website. A whole range of human rights abuses are cited there, from arbitrary detention through to institutionalised sexism and curbs on freedom of expression.

The Co-op’s not alone on this one though. Standard Life is proud to show off its ethical investment funds, even though they account for less than 1% of the company’s business. Their UK Ethical account includes shares in Tescopoly, Vodafone, The Royal Bank of Scotland and (oil scumpany) Cairn Energy. Meanwhile, both Standard Life and Co-op’s CIS throw cash at the big oil firms such as Shell, ExxonMobil, and Burma sanction-busting Total Oil (See SchNEWS 488).

But the Co-op aren’t just into damaging the Global South over here in the UK, Co-op customers have to pay £30 every time they go more than £1overdrawn which must do its bit for their annual £96.m profit. Not forgetting the range of lovely services which could help you get your giro paid into a nice tax-exempt offshore account in the Channel Islands. If you’re with the Co-op, have a look on their website under ‘sustainable investing’, read their ‘investment criteria’ and have a word with one of their financial advisers on 0845 850 0168. (Or maybe explore the ethical possibility of keeping your cash in a tin up the chimney).

Check out  http://www.schnews.org.uk/archive/news539.htm for the rest of this weeks issue which includes an update on the employment law protests in France, reports on the naming of the dead in Parliament Square, the Narmada Dam protests, Heathrow's 60th birthday and a bit of anarcho golfing.