#Adesina criticizes #opaque #loans linked to #Africa's #resources
The head of the #African #Development #Bank is calling for an end to loans given in exchange for the continent's #rich #oil #reserves or essential #minerals used in #smartphones and #electric car #batteries.
This type of #borrowing has plunged many #African #countries into a #financial #crisis.
“They're just bad, first and foremost, because you can't value assets properly,” #Akinwumi Adesina said in an interview with The Associated #Press in #Lagos, #Nigeria, last week.
"If you have #minerals or #oil under the ground, how do you find a #price for a long-term #contract? It's a challenge," he explains.
Linking future revenues from #natural #resource #exports to loan #repayments is often presented as a way for recipients to obtain f#inancing for #infrastructure #projects and for lenders to reduce the #risk of not getting their money back.
The shift to #renewable #energy and #electric #vehicles has caused a spike in demand for essential minerals, which favors this type of lending. The agreement between #China and the #Congo illustrates this well. Beijing thus exploits the world's largest #reserves of #cobalt, a mineral used to #manufacture #lithium #batteries.
Pollution
#Shell must clean up #pollution before it leaves #Niger delta, report says
Firm told it must take #responsibility for #toxic legacy of pollution and safe #decommissioning of abandoned oil #infrastructure
The #oil firm Shell cannot be allowed to withdraw from the Niger delta before it takes #responsibility for its toxic legacy of pollution and the safe decommissioning of abandoned oil infrastructure, a report says.
Shell plc is preparing to divest from the delta but a report warns that it must remain until it has cleaned up its legacy of pollution.
The report, by the Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations (Somo), says historical pollution remains a serious issue in the area and accuses Shell of trying to avoid responsibility despite the billions of dollars it has earned from the oil.
The allegations come as the Labour MP Clive Lewis said in the House of Commons that the departure of Shell, a #British #company, from the delta raised serious concerns that its #environmental responsibilities and obligations could be evaded.
The report says there is a big transparency gap around the issue of funding for decommissioning. #Nigeria has legal requirements for companies to set aside funds for decommissioning, but there is no means to establish how much funding companies have – or have not – set aside, the report said.
Researchers for #Somo could not find any confirmation that Shell has set up a fund or funds to cover the decommissioning of the oil mining leases it has sold.
#africa #Nature #Wildlife #faune #Biodiversity #Rewilding #ecology #Ecology #Nature #ecologie #Écologie #LesEcologistes #justiceclimatique
#datacenter #DC #SysOps #NetOps #IPv6
