Topic: Investments of the Indo-British enterprise Vedanta in bauxite mining and processing in Lanjigarh, Kalahandi district, Orissa. In this area there is mainly indigenous population from the Dongria Khond people.

The headquarters building of Deutsche Bank in Frankfurt is currently being renovated. The prominent twin towers will become one of the most modern and most environment friendly buildings of Europe. Deutsche Bank calls this project “Greentowers”. This is supposed to set standards for the future as per the website “banking-on-green.de”. This website was initiated by Deutsche Bank solely for the purpose to show its responsibility in the social and ecological field. To act in a sustainable way, to treat environment with care, to safeguard the future – these are the crucial catchwords. Deutsche Bank presents itself as a green and social model enterprise. All important international standards and voluntary agreements regarding sustainability have been signed by Deutsche Bank. A system of sustainability management is supposed to check all ecological, social and ethical aspects of business activities. But does this really happen in practice?

An aluminium refinery in India

The Nyamgiri ridge in the Indian state of Orissa is a unique natural landscape. Hundreds of plant and animal species, among them also rare and endangered species, are here at home. And Niyamgiri is the home of the Dongria Khond, an indigenous people. For thousands of years have they lived there. Nyamgiri mountain is their living space and their God at the same time. “This is the only way, how we can live our lives. All fruits, which we eat, are gifts of Nyamgiri. Without him we cannot live”, says Prahallad Kandhapani. He is Dongria and he lives in the little village Khajuri. For him his village and his mountain are a paradise.

But the paradise is endangered. At the foot of Nyamgiri the Indo-British mining enterprise Vedanta has operated an aluminium refinery for years. A dirty business. The production of aluminium devours vast quantities of energy, which is provided by a especially constructed coal power station. Besides, the plant works with highly toxic chemicals, whose legacy are tons of toxic sludge. Hundreds of trucks ply day by day through the narrow streets of the neighbouring villages.

The people who live close to the plant suffer. In several villages the number of rashes with pus is on the increase. Bundel village is the home of Renu Majhi. The entire upper part of his body is marked by pustules with puss. “Every time I take a bath in the stream it gets worse”, he says. The bathing ground of the village is only 200 meters away from the refinery. Everywhere on the ground and in the water there is fly ash, a waste product of the plant. Fly ash may contain heavy metals. Nearly everybody in the village testifies, that after a bath the skin itches and burns. Nobody here can prove, that the skin diseases come from the water indeed. But all say, that in former times they had not had these diseases.

Environmental pollution is only on of the many documented allegations vis-à-vis Vedanta. Use of force against villagers, illegal felling of trees in a forest area, transgression of workers’ rights, constructions without permit – all these points belong to the “list of sins” of Vedanta. Not only in India, but worldwide environmentalists, human rights activists and authorities have critized Vedanta for years in public and in a vocal way for its corporate policy.

Deutsche Bank in the same boat

Nevertheless Deutsche Bank deals with Vedanta. 2004 and 2005 it helped the mining giant to get fresh capital through two loans with a volume of overall 600 million US-dollar. Its particular share lies by 227.5 million. This is money, with which Vendanta can advance projects like the one at the foot of Nyamgiri.

The refinery is only the start. At the top of holy mountain Nyamgiri a huge mine is in the making. In open pit mining covering an area of several square kilometers they want to quarry bauxite, basic ingredient for the production of aluminium and a much greater danger for the environment. The mine not only endangers the living space of the Dongria Kondh. More than 30 important water sources have originate from the mountain. “Once the mountain is destroyed, the water supply of the whole region is endangered”, says Monali Zey Hazra from Centre for Science and Environment in Delhi. Reports from concerned authorities confirm this danger.

Some investors drew consequences from the controversies surrounding Vedanta. The Norwegian Pension Fund, one of the largest worldwide, commissioned its Council on Ethics to examine the situation. The study comes to a clear verdict: Vedanta violates human rights and is responsible for considerable environmental pollution – including Nyamgiri. The Pension Fund subsequently withdrew its deposits from Vedanta in 2007. Other funds did the same, Deutsche Bank, however, did not. On the contrary: A few months later Deutsche Bank assisted Vedanta in getting a loan of 1.25 billion US-Dollar. Besides, it recommended explicitely that shareholders should buy Vendanta shares. According to the last annual report of its investment subsidiary DWS Deutsche Bank still holds Vedanta shares to the tune of millions.

Controversial business partners

It is not only Vedanta. The Belgian NGO “Netwerk Vlaanderen” examines cases of unethical investments of various banks. Based on a study by the Dutch research agency Profundo it published a report with “Bank Secrets” as title. In this reports Deutsche Bank comes off worst among all banks on which research had been done. The risk of “unethical investments” is regarded as “extremely high”. Also the German association “Urgewald” massively criticizes the investment policy of Deutsche Bank. Entitled with “Deutsche Bank. A dubious hallmark” they have compiled in a brochure, which documents, with which doubtful business partners Deutsche Bank co-operates worldwide. “When selecting its business partners it knows no bounds and it finances also the blackest sheep”, says Barbara Happe, one of the authors.

Deutsche Bank declined to be interviewed regarding all these issues. Also questions of plusminus (information magazine of “First German Television”) regarding business relations with Vedanta were not answered due to “legal reasons”. Instead Deutsche Bank points to the numerous international standards and voluntary agreements, which it has signed. They write in general: “Sustainability criteria are of crucial importance for our business activities and they are integral part of bank’s identity.” Besides Deutsche Bank carries out “concerning certain decisions […] a comprehensive risk analysis regarding sustainability and concerning certain decisions.

This article informs about the TV report broadcast on 12.5.2009. Possible later changes of the actual situation are not taken into account.