Report finds ESB imported coal from Colombian mine linked to human rights violations
The state-owned Electricity Supply Board (ESB) has been criticised in a report by Christian Aid for importing coal from a Colombian mine for use at its Moneypoint plant in Co. Clare.
Situated in the northern Colombian region of La Guajira, the Cerrejon mine has been linked to several human rights abuses, including river pollution and forced displacement of local indigenous populations. The mine releases millions of litres of water into the Rancheria river, the only major river in the area. This water is full of heavy metals and has been linked to “elevated levels of cancer, reproductive ailments and renal and liver problems.
The mine in question is controlled by BHP Billiton, Anglo American and Glencore and produces an average of 32 million tonnes of coal per year, the majority of which is exported. The sales of the coal are managed through an Irish based holding called CMC Coal Marketing.
According to the report, the ESB have imported more than 8 million tonnes of coal from the Cerrejon mine since 2011. In response, ESB said that they had stopped importing coal from the mine in 2018 and that between 2015 and 2018, they had purchased about 2% of the mine’s output. It also highlighted its membership of Bettercoal, an organisation for coal buyers to promote improving sourcing of coal. According to the ESB, Bettercoal did a report on the mine and found no glaring issues.
Christian Aid’s report goes on to criticise Ireland’s broader role in the human rights abuses associated with the mine. It argues that through the State’s purchase of coal from Cerrejon, we are contributing to the climate crisis, when Ireland produces some of the highest levels of per capita emissions in Europe. Ireland’s corporate tax rate also means that international companies, like CMC, gravitate to the State. According to Christian Aid, by enabling CMC to avoid tax in Colombia, Ireland is undermining that government’s ability to raise tax revenue to improve living conditions for their people.
The report outlines a number of recommendations for how Ireland can improve its approach to business and human rights. Among its suggestions were for the ESB to acknowledge the weaknesses of Bettercoal and seek to strengthen its accountability mechanism and for the ESB to support an independent human rights and environmental impact assessment for the Cerrejon mine. The report also urged the Irish government to introduce legislation to compel State-owned businesses to carry out human rights due diligence in their operations and supply chains and to launch a consultation process to update the National Plan on Business and Human Rights to address the concerns raised in the report.
The report concludes that “without clear legislation that holds the government and the ESB to account, the National Plan will remain a smokescreen for genuine respect for human rights in business operations.”
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