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Letter / 4 May 2023

Letter from NGOs to Dutch export credit agency: CSR policy must be strengthened

The Dutch government, through its export credit agency Atradius DSB (ADSB), provides export support to companies that undertake activities abroad. The state wants projects it insures to have no negative consequences for people and the environment and therefore sets requirements for corporate social responsibility (CSR). A consultation on CSR policy ran until the end of April, to which a coalition of thirteen social organisations from the Netherlands and abroad, including Both ENDS and Milieudefensie (Friends of the Earth the Netherlands), responded.

For many years, civil society organisations have been calling on the government to sharpen ADSB's CSR policy considerably. That has not happened enough with this update. Although it is good that all high-risk projects and project sites are now visited and monitored, these improvements are insufficient to prevent or mitigate the many negative consequences of projects in which ADSB is involved.

 

Missed opportunity

It is surprising and incomprehensible that the consultation was only held in Dutch, and definitely a missed opportunity. The Dutch government could have demonstrateed that it wants to learn from the experiences of organisations and movements that have been trying to get the govenrnments attention for years about things that go wrong in the field of CSR. Groups from the global South have not been informed at all about the consultation process, while their experience, expertise and input are crucial for the government to arrive at a balanced, broadly supported CSR policy in which people, the environment and climate are paramount .

 

Recommendations

With this letter, the coalition of NGOs provides as much input and recommendations as possible from a broad background and experience, in the hope of encouraging the government to adopt a firmer CSR policy that guarantees human rights and environmental protection and that is in line with the Paris climate goals and a fair energy transition.

 

Link to consultation page

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