10 October, 2018 (VANCOUVER) – International financial services company, NN (Nationale-Nederlanden) Group, has announced it is withdrawing from 10 tar sands oil companies and four controversial pipeline companies over environmental and human rights concerns. The decision comes on the heels of the IPCC report sending a message to world leaders that they need to get serious about climate change.

The NN Group, which manages 240 billion euros, added companies including TransCanada, Kinder Morgan, Enbridge, and Energy Transfer Partners (the company behind the Dakota Access pipeline), to its Exclusion List. The company, which earlier this year owned around 150 million euros worth of shares and bonds in these companies, cited human rights concerns, pollution, and greenhouse gas emissions as the main reasons for its decision. NN Group states that it believes tar sands should not be developed because they are not compatible with the Paris Agreement.

“The NN Group pulling out of its tar sands investments shows that expanding dirty fossil fuels, is a bad bet and incompatible with a climate safe world,” said Mike Hudema, climate and energy campaigner with Greenpeace Canada. “Today’s announcement is another signal that the Trudeau government’s obsession with trying to build the Trans Mountain pipeline and tanker project is out of step with where the world is going in terms of climate change, economics and recognition of Indigenous rights. Projects like Trans Mountain don’t hold up in court, don’t have Indigenous consent, and increasingly they’re losing support from the financial sector.”[1]

“The NN Group has made a smart call which should send a clear message to world leaders like Prime Minister Trudeau that dirty fuels are not smart investments,” said Greenpeace Netherlands campaigner Kees Kodde. “Tar sands oil and the pipelines to transport it do not fit in a world that has committed itself to the Paris Accord. Financial institutions need to walk away from these destructive tar sands pipelines.“

This is a wake up call to investors, the oil industry and world leaders that we are running out of time and they must take urgent action to tackle climate change and honor the commitments made under the Paris Agreement.

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Notes:

For the NN press release, click here

For the new NN Exclusion list, click here

[1] Internationally, banks and investors are moving away from the tar sands oil sector, including HSBC, RBS, ING, Natixis, AXA and BNP Paribas. Investors Nordea, Storebrand, KLP and DNB have also divested from ETP.

For more information, contact:

Mike Hudema, climate and energy campaigner at Greenpeace Canada, is available for comment. To arrange an interview, please contact Steve Cornwell, 519-418-0071, [email protected]

Greenpeace International Press Desk: +31 (0) 20 718 2470, [email protected] (available 24 hours)