Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative
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This article is part of the Mining and Metals project of Spinwatch |
According to its website the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) seeks through partnerships between government, companies, and civil society to ensure the transparency of payments by companies to government and of revenues received by those governments, to encourage accountability.
Some reports[1] have the origins of the initiative thus:
- Proposed by UK Prime Minister Tony Blair in 2002 and endorsed by the G8 countries, the multi-stakeholder Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative supports improved governance in resource-rich countries through publication and verification of company payments and government revenues from oil, gas and mining.
Peter Eigen was offered "an invitation from Gareth Thomas, the UK's minister for international development, to lead an International Panel to take forward the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI)."
EITI currently funds activities in Azerbaijan, Cameroon, Republic of Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, Ghana, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Mauritania, Mongolia, Niger, Nigeria, São Tomé and Principe, and Timor Leste. More than 15 other countries are either discussing their participation with EITI or have endorsed the Initiative and are currently preparing to implement it.
Contents
Critique
In his book 'Corporate social responsibility and international development: is business the solution?', Michael Hopkins notes the unregulated nature of the EITI which has led to some countries and companies making false claims to fulfill EITI guidance, in fact using it as a cover to continue variously corrupt and non-transparent operations, whilst benefiting from the positive image of being an EITI member;
- Richard Murphy, an independent chartered accountant analysed the EITI Reporting Guidelines and the EITI Source Book and found that they had "major flaws, inconsistencies and opt-outs which could allow a country or company to claim to be implementing EITI without providing anything like a clear picture of revenue flows".[2]
International Advisory Group Members
- Chair - Peter Eigen, Transparency International
- Sam Laidlaw, Executive Vice President, Chevron Texaco
- Graham Baxter, Vice President, Corporate Responsibility, BP
- Edward Bickham, Executive Vice President, External Affairs, Anglo American
- Yannick Tagand, DE/ETI, Ministère des Affaires étrangères, France
- Larry Greenwood, Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Finance and Development. Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs, US Department of State
- Samir Sharifov, Executive Director, State-owned Oil Fund of Azerbaijan
- Dr. Oby Ezekwesili, Minister for Solid Minerals Development, Nigeria
- Carlos Garaycochea, EITI Coordinator, Adviser to the Minister of Energy and Mines
- Karin Lissakers, Open Society Institute
- Gavin Hayman is a researcher and campaigner at Global Witness based in London, UK. He has contributed substantially to Global Witness' work on oil, gas and mining and the linkages between natural resources and conflict. He previously worked at the Royal Institute of International Affairs in London.
- Sabit Bagirov, Chairman of Board, TI Azerbaijan
- Father Patrick Lafon, General Secretary, Central African Bishops Conference, Cameroon
- Karina Litvack, Director, Head of Governance & Socially Responsible Investment,F & C Asset Management
Supporting Industry Associations
Members: Alcoa, CVRD, Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold, Gold Fields, Mitsubishi Materials, Nippon Mining & Metals, Sumitomo Metal Mining, Teck Cominco, and Zinifex. [3]
Supporters
- Ben Mellor, Head of EITI Secretariat
- Tim Ayres, EITI Secretariat
- Peter van der Veen Manager, Mining Department, World Bank
Secretariat
- Jonas Moberg Head of Secretariat. Previously Senior Advisor to the UN Global Compact.
- Eddie Rich Deputy Head and Regional Director. Previously Department of International Development head for Angola and later Kenya.
- Sam Bartlett Regional Director. Previously ECON Analysis partner.
- Tim Bittiger Regional Director. Previously European Union (EU) and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) working on governance, democratisation and institution-building.[4]
Supporting International Organisations
- United Nations (UN)
- G8 at meetings at Evian (2003), Sea Island (2004), Gleneagles (2005), Heiligendamm (2007), Hokkaido Toyako (2008), L’Aquila (2009), and most recently at Muskoka (2010).
- European Union (EU)
- African Union (AU)
- International Organisation of La Francophonie (OIF)
- Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)[5]
Supporting Companies
African Rainbow Minerals | Alcoa | AMG Advanced Metallurgical Group | Anglo American | AngloGold Ashanti | Anvil Mining | Arcelor Mittal | Areva | Barrick | BG Group | BHP Billiton | BP | Chevron Corporation | ConocoPhilips | DeBeers | Eni | ExxonMobil | Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold | GDF SUEZ | Goldcorp | Gold Fields | Hess Corporation | Lihir Gold | Katanga Mining Limited | Lonmin | Marathon | Mitsubishi Materials | MMG | Newmont | Nippon Mining & Metals | Noble Energy | Norsk Hydro | Oxus Gold | OZ Minerals | Pemex | Petrobras | Qatar Petroleum | Repsol YPF | Rio Tinto | RWE | Santos | Shell | Statoil | Sumitomo Metal Mining | Talisman Energy | Teck | Total | Vale | Woodside | Xstrata [6]
Supporting Civil Society Organisations
- Georgia Revenue Watch and NGO Coalition "For Transparency of Public Finance"
- Secours Catholique (Caritas)
Financing Institutions
- African Development Bank (AfDB)
- Asian Development Bank (ADB)
- European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)
- European Investment Bank (EIB)
- Inter-American Development Bank (IDB)
- International Monetary Fund (IMF)
- KfW Bankengruppe
- World Bank Group[8]
Funding
Canada's support includes a contribution of $750,000 to the EITI Multi-Donor Trust Fund, as well as $100,000 in annual, ongoing funding.
Contact
EITI International Secretariat Ruseløkkveien 26, 0251 Oslo, Norway +47 2224 2105 +47 2224 2115
Email: secretariat@eiti.org Website: http://eiti.org/
Resources
Twitter:
Notes
- ↑ IPIECA, Case studies: The Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, accessed 22 August 2011,
- ↑ Michael Hopkins, 2007 Corporate social responsibility and international development: is business the solution? Earthscan, Bath. Accessed 04/08/10
- ↑ EITI, Supporters Industry Associations Accessed 04/08/10
- ↑ EITI, About Secretariat Accessed 04/08/10
- ↑ EITI, Supporters Organisations Accessed 04/08/10
- ↑ EITI, Supporters Companies Accessed 04/08/10
- ↑ EITI, Supporters Civil Society Accessed 04/08/10
- ↑ EITI, Supporters Organisations Accessed 04/08/10
