People & Planet STUDENT ACTION

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Stop British banks from financing a human rights and environmental disaster

Please email HSBC and Royal Bank of Scotland (which also owns NatWest), and tell them not to give loans to the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline. You can use the sample letter below - or even better, add your own text, or change it into your own words. Send your emails to:

Stephen Green, Group Chief Executive, HSBC
Fred Goodwin, Group Chief Executive, Royal Bank of Scotland Group

Sample text:

As a student, I am determined not to invest my money in a bank which invests unethically.

I am writing to you to express my concern about the proposed Baku-T'bilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline, due to be constructed by a BP-led consortium. I understand that your bank is considering financing this project.

The BTC pipeline is a political project sponsored by the USA, designed to undermine Iran and Russia, while boosting the regimes of Azerbaijan and Georgia. The recent toppling of the Georgian regime shows the instability of the political approach. Azerbaijan's Presidential election this autumn is widely recognised to have been rigged, and was followed by a brutal clampdown against opposition parties. It is not an appropriate role for a bank such as yours to participate in such geopolitical interference.

The region is highly unstable, and this project stands to exacerbate conflicts. For example, Azerbaijan's new President Ilham Aliyev hinted in his inauguration speech that he would use oil revenues to build up the army and restart the war with Armenia. The pipeline has been threatened with terrorist attacks in all three countries.

The pipeline looks set to cause major human rights abuses. In Turkey, it will be guarded by the notorious state Gendarmerie, which has a record for some of the worst atrocities in the region. It seems BP has not learned its lessons from the human rights problems with its operations in Colombia.

Research by environment and human rights groups has shown that the pipeline will damage livelihoods of local people living on the route. Compensation for lost land has been inadequate, and many people stand to be forced into the city slums as their land becomes unusable. Meanwhile, massive corruption will prevent any of the revenues reaching those who need them.

But perhaps the greatest impact will be the longest-term one. The 365 million barrels of oil a year piped through the BTC pipeline will throw more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than every car, bus, truck and train in the UK, and as much as every power station. Governments are currently discussing climate change in Milan - oil companies and banks should do their part by not investing in adding to our dependence on fossil fuels.

I do not want to keep my money in a bank which is involved in projects like this. Please could you reassure me that your bank will not provide a loan to the BTC project.