[{"_id":"project-settings","settings":{"translateMetaTags":true,"translateAriaLabels":true,"translateTitle":true,"showWidget":true,"isFeedbackEnabled":false,"fv":1,"customWidget":{"theme":"dark","font":"rgb(255,255,255)","header":"rgb(0,0,0)","background":"rgba(0,0,0,0.8)","position":"right","positionVertical":"bottom","border":"","borderRequired":false,"widgetCompact":true,"isWidgetPositionRelative":false},"widgetLanguages":[],"activeLanguages":{"es":"Español","en":"English"},"enabledLanguages":["en","es"],"debugInfo":false,"displayBranding":true,"displayBrandingName":true,"localizeImages":false,"localizeUrls":false,"localizeImagesLimit":true,"localizeUrlsLimit":true,"localizeAudio":false,"localizeAudioLimit":true,"localizeDates":false,"disabledPages":[],"regexPhrases":[],"allowComplexCssSelectors":false,"blockedClasses":false,"blockedIds":false,"phraseDetection":true,"customDomainSettings":[],"seoSetting":[],"translateSource":false,"overage":false,"detectPhraseFromAllLanguage":false,"googleAnalytics":false,"mixpanel":false,"heap":false,"disableDateLocalization":false,"ignoreCurrencyInTranslation":false,"blockedComplexSelectors":[]},"version":7249},{"_id":"en","source":"en","pluralFn":"return n != 1 ? 1 : 0;","pluralForm":2,"dictionary":{},"version":7249},{"_id":"outdated","outdated":{"#Protection Status: Off":1,"#Clarity":1,"#Bing (Universal Event Tracking)":1,"#DoubleClick by Google":1,"#Veolia – a company <a ljsid-1=\"\">discredited</a> completely in its World Bank-promoted public-private partnership project in Lagos, Nigeria – is another such company, and yet another multinational corporation, Suez, is also <a ljsid-3=\"\">making a foray</a> into India’s water privatization market.The potential profit from this market is huge, if the government of India’s present urban development plan remains on track.":1,"#Nagpur’s water privatization scheme is a pilot project, a test case for the rest of India. Rivers and other bodies of water in India are sources of the country’s spiritualism. Activists working for water rights say capturing India’s waters is akin to capturing the nation’s soul. The law in India is that all bodies of ...":1,"#India's water war: City workers fight corporate privatization efforts - Corporate Accountability":1,"#Lastly, there are territorial disputes and tensions over China’s <a ljsid-1=\"\">diverting</a> of the Brahmaputra River’s water.":1,"#The second front is pollution. Rivers like the Ganges are polluted by industrial effluence in cities like Kanpur in the state of Uttar Pradesh, and waste disposal at religious sites like the city of Varanasi, which is represented in India’s Parliament by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Groundwater is contaminated in the periphery of nuclear power plants like the <a ljsid-1=\"\">Koodankulam</a>.":1,"#The first is the battle for drinking water being waged between citizens and corporations. Companies like<a ljsid-1=\"\"> Coca-Cola</a> and Pepsi have already <a ljsid-3=\"\">gained notoriety</a> for illegal use and overuse of groundwater. There are issues of huge <a ljsid-5=\"\">displacements</a> by power projects and <a ljsid-7=\"\">dams</a>.":1,"#(Image: <a ljsid-1=\"\">India water</a> via Shutterstock)":1,"#March 5, 2016":1,"#boicot":1,"#\" <strong ljsid-1=\"\">nestle</strong> \" desde Actualizaciones":1,"#nestle":1,"#ESCR-net: The need to ensure corporate accountability amidst the pandemic":1,"#August 25, 2020":1,"#WASHINGTON — Dozens of organizations representing millions of people across the United States called on Congress today to urgently pass a COVID-19 relief package to prevent additional unnecessary suffering across the country and to ensure voting rights. The call for COVID-19 relief comes during an unprecedented moment of climate-induced wildfires, heat waves and hurricanes. Today’s letter urges Congress to protect vote-by-mail practices, protect millions of workers on the frontlines of the pandemic with stronger safety standards and personal protective equipment, and prevent the inhumane practice of evictions and utility shutoffs. It also calls on Congress to defend the U.S. Postal ...":1,"#RELEASE: Millions of people demand congressional action on COVID-19 relief":1,"#September 14, 2020":1,"#WORLDWIDE – Today, a global coalition released a “liability roadmap”: a first-of-its-kind tool outlining how local to global decision-makers, including government officials, can hold polluting industries liable for the climate damage they knowingly cause, while unlocking climate finance needed to address the climate crisis and implement solutions. This roadmap, released just one week before UN climate week and days after Portuguese young people announced they’re suing 33 countries over inaction on climate change, is the next stage in the global campaign to Make Big Polluters Pay. Last September, international climate organizations launched a global call for Big Polluter liability at ...":1,"#INTERNATIONAL – Une coalition mondiale a publié ce jour une « feuille de route pour la responsabilisation ». Premier en son genre, cet outil donne aux décideurs locaux et internationaux, y compris aux représentants des gouvernements, les clés pour tenir les industries polluantes responsables des dégâts qu’elles causent sciemment à l’environnement et vise à débloquer des fonds qui seront alloués à la gestion de la crise climatique et à la mise en œuvre de solutions. Cette feuille de route, publiée à tout juste une semaine du sommet consacré au climat sous l’égide des Nations Unies représente la prochaine étape dans ...":1,"#todas las actualizaciones <strong ljsid-1=\"\">de Democracia</strong>":1,"#de Democracia":1,"#Investors demand Coke stops interfering in policy, funding junk science ATLANTA, GA—On the eve of Coke’s first-ever all-virtual annual meeting, the corporation’s role in another global health crisis is facing scrutiny. A new report by Corporate Accountability finds that the Coke-funded International Life Sciences Institute (ILSI) is playing an outsized role in shaping national food and nutrition policies from India to Argentina to the United States. Notable among the findings is that more than half of the 2020 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee—the body that informs both national nutrition policy and how Americans eat and drink—has ties to ILSI. The findings come on ...":1,"#Report: Group funded by Coke, Big Food looms large in U.S. dietary guidelines":1,"#The barbaric murders of Black people have again risen to national attention, although this has been a relentless and centuries-long outrage in the U.S. In this moment we are grieving the murders of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, David McAtee, George Floyd, Tony McDade, and so many more people whose names we will never know. Corporate Accountability stands with people around the country who are rising up in anger and anguish in response to the taking of these precious lives, and condemn the brutally repressive tactics being used to silence peaceful protest. But more than that, we know we must be ...":1,"#Originally published on Medium Across the world, government responses to the COVID-19 pandemic have highlighted deep and long-standing systemic inequalities in the current dominant economic and development models. Messages, such as “stay home, stay safe”, social distancing, and “wash hands for 20–40 seconds with soap and running water” are barely relevant for those who struggle for food, decent living, public water, and basic sanitation. From our view as human rights defenders from Colombia and India, we see our government taking measures that are destroying lives. In India, the lives of millions of migrants workers — especially those in the informal ...":1,"#Une coalition mondiale publie la « feuille de route pour la responsabilisation » afin de faire payer les grands pollueurs":1,"#Sociedad civil pide equidad, transparencia y rendición de cuentas durante las audiencias públicas GINEBRA, SUIZA—Se están llevando a cabo audiencias públicas con diversas trabas para el acuerdo global propuesto por la OMS sobre prevención, preparación y respuesta ante pandemias (Tratado sobre las Pandemias). El proceso de negociación que comenzó desde Febrero ya está generando preocupaciones importantes, entre las cuales se encuentra quién puede ofrecer aportes sustantivos y cómo se armonizará la negociación del tratado, con la revisión de la OMS del vehículo existente para abordar emergencias de salud, incluidas las pandemias. Más de 200 organizaciones de la sociedad civil (OSC), ...":1,"#Comunicado de Prensa Inmunizar las negociaciones del Tratado Internacional de la OMS sobre las Pandemias contra quienes se benefician de ellas":1,"#April 14, 2022":1,"#Soda giant facing new revelations of attempted political influence in Mexico Despite professed commitment to transparency, corporation failing to disclose political activity and spending globally Resolution presented at the annual shareholders’ meeting gets impressive 13% first time vote PepsiCo and McDonald’s now face similar resolutions ATLANTA, GEORGIA — Seven years after making a very public vow to “do better” on transparency, investors are growing impatient. Revelations of Coca-Cola’s efforts to undermine front of package labeling in Mexico are only the most recent to malign the soda giant’s supposed commitment. Today at the corporation’s annual meeting, after years of half measures ...":1,"#Please see below for a statement from our Executive Director, Patti Lynn. “This election season, we did not let anything get in the way of voting: We showed up to vote in the midst of a pandemic and persisted in the face of day-long lines, eliminated drop-off locations, and intimidation. Now, every vote must be counted. We have been trained here in the U.S. to expect instant results, but we need to remain steadfast and peaceful while every vote is counted. What’s most important is not that we know the results now, but that those results—when they come—reflect all the ...":1,"#STATEMENT: The people have voted. Now every vote must be counted.":1,"#November 4, 2020":1,"#Dr. Yolandra Hancock addresses PepsiCo shareholders at its annual meeting -- demanding a report the impact of sugary drinks on public health.":1,"#Currently viewing <span ljsid-1=\"\">all <strong ljsid-1-1=\"\">Democracia</strong> Updates</span>":1,"#\" from Updates":1,"#boycott":1,"#\"<strong ljsid-1=\"\">boycott</strong>\" from Updates":1,"#Currently viewing <span ljsid-1=\"\">\"<strong ljsid-1-1=\"\">boycott</strong>\" from Updates</span>":1,"#By Jessica Glenza for The Guardian. Gina Luster bathed her child in lukewarm bottled water, emptied bottle by bottle into ...":1,"#The Guardian: Nestlé pays $200 a year to bottle water near Flint – where water is undrinkable":1,"#September 29, 2017":1,"#Yesterday, Nestlé Waters North America announced that it is partnering with Keeping America Beautiful (KAB) to do clean-ups at national ...":1,"#Currently viewing <span ljsid-1=\"\">\"<strong ljsid-1-1=\"\">nestle</strong>\" from Updates</span>":1,"#It's time for Wells Fargo to cut ties with private prisons, stop funding politicians, and more. At it's annual shareholders' meeting, we demand that the corporation align with its stated values.":1,"#Statement: 2025 Wells Fargo annual shareholders’ meeting":1,"#April 29, 2025":1,"#The following statement was delivered by Samantha Marinelli, an organizer at Corporate Accountability. Hello, my name is Samantha Marinelli and I’m an organizer at Corporate Accountability. I am deeply concerned by the stark contradiction between Philip Morris International’s public messaging and its business reality. PMI claims to be moving beyond cigarettes, yet Marlboro is still your most profitable brand and remains central to your business strategy. It continues to be prominently promoted at points of sale and in environments that appeal to young people, like music festivals. PMI is using the same playbook for its newer tobacco and nicotine products ...":1,"#On Saturday, May 17, 2025, Corporate Accountability gave the following statement at the Flint/Pittsburgh Day of Action: “Everyone, no matter where we come from or how much money we make, deserves access to safe, clean drinking water, one of our most essential resources. That’s why we’re standing in solidarity with the people of Pittsburgh, who have seen the disastrous impacts of privatization first hand, in support of the May 20th ballot referendum to keep Pittsburgh’s water public. While the private water industry pitches itself as the solution to cash-strapped cities, privatization has all too often led to higher water rates, ...":1,"#“The decision by the Trump administration to withdraw the United States from the Paris Agreement immediately after taking office is a catastrophic blow to communities, families, nations, and millions of people around the world whose lives continue to be impacted by a climate crisis the United States has helped spur. The catastrophic fires in Los Angeles, as well as in other parts of the world such as the Amazon rainforest, provide a harrowing illustration of the real life consequences of unchecked climate change. By abandoning the Paris Agreement, the United States—historically the largest carbon emitter and currently the world’s largest ...":1,"#Veolia's actions in Flint remind us of the very simple fact that corporations care more about their profits than about our communities.":1,"#World’s largest private water corporation settles in Flint water crisis lawsuits":1,"#February 21, 2025":1,"#Unblock":1,"#Content blocked. Click Unblock to set your consent level for this website and view the content.":1,"#The people of Flint didn’t choose to make this switch. The roots of the crisis lie in Michigan’s emergency manager law, which allows the state to install an unelected official to essentially run a city — with nearly limitless power to override local government. This disastrous law has been used to systematically suspend democracy in majority Black cities in Michigan like Flint.":1,"#Two thousand days ago, Flint’s water supply was switched to the filthy Flint River. It didn’t take long for people to start noticing that something was terribly wrong.":1,"#That’s why I’m asking if you’ll stand with our partners at Flint Rising as we demand solutions to and justice for the Flint water crisis. <a ljsid-1=\"\">Donate now, and your full gift will support our partners at Flint Rising and their campaigning for justice.</a>":1,"#And leading this organizing is <a ljsid-1=\"\">Flint Rising</a>, a grassroots campaign demanding justice. We’re committed to partnering with them to ensure that this tragedy isn’t forgotten and those responsible are held accountable.":1,"#That’s more than 5 years of contaminated water flowing from Flint residents’ taps. More than five years of sounding the alarm and organizing for a just resolution to a crisis they did nothing to cause.":1,"#For people in Flint, Michigan, it’s been over five years. In fact, today marks two thousand days since the water supply switch that triggered Flint’s ongoing crisis. When I hear that number, I have to take a deep breath to really process what it means.":1,"#What’s the longest you’ve gone without a drink from a glass of clean, safe tap water?":1,"#It’s been 2,000 days since the switch that triggered Flint’s water crisis. Stand with us and our partners at Flint Rising as we demand justice.":1,"#2,000 days: Justice for the people of Flint - Corporate Accountability":1,"#Thank you for your commitment to clean, safe water at rates all people can afford.":1,"#It’s far past time for Flint residents to have safe water again, and for those responsible for this crisis to be held accountable. <a ljsid-1=\"\">When you donate today, you’ll support Flint residents in demanding their human right to water be respected, and holding those involved accountable.</a>":1,"#For years, the powerful women at the helm of Flint Rising have been organizing tirelessly for their human right to water. They’re organizing to support their fellow Flint residents in urgently securing access to safe water for their daily needs. And they’re organizing for a long-term solution to the water crisis and accountability for those who caused it.":1,"#Now Flint residents pay some of the highest rates in the country with bills up to $200 per month — for water they can’t drink. Because even though, as you may have read, Flint’s water supply has been switched back, the water is still dirty and people are still getting sick from it. The pipes urgently need to be replaced. And the state officials whose actions sparked the crisis, like former Governor Rick Snyder, must be held accountable.":1,"#2,000 days: Justice for the people of Flint":1,"#October 15, 2019":1,"#The national nonprofit alliance of 12,000 doctors was behind shaming campaigns against not only Harris Health System, which operates Ben Taub, but also other hospitals across the country that allow fast-food restaurants in their buildings.":1,"#“If they’ve closed a McDonald’s it’s a win,” said Leslie Rudloff, director of legal affairs for the Washington, D.C.-based advocacy group for nutrition and preventative medicine.":1,"#The presence of McDonald’s at Ben Taub had become a flash point of protest by those who said the menu — often laden with fat, salt and sugar — had no place at a health-care facility. On Friday, the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, declared victory.":1,"#“It was not going to be as good for business,” he said, adding that the franchise owner at the basement location has not decided whether to open elsewhere in the Texas Medical Center.":1,"#All traces of the Golden Arches are now gone from the hospital basement where the restaurant was a fixture for nearly 16 years. An alternate location was offered in the hospital’s adjacent tower but the restaurant chain has decided to pass, McDonald’s spokesman Chris Stanley said.":1,"#The McDonald’s restaurant in the basement of Ben Taub Hospital was closed after the storm and now, nearly a year later, the company has decided not to reopen it, in either its previous location or the immediate vicinity, a spokesman for the fast-food giant said Friday.":1,"#What years of outrage, picket lines and billboard campaigns failed to do, a storm named Harvey accomplished with one burst pipe and a foot of floodwater.":1,"#By Jenny Deam for the Houston Chronicle. What years of outrage, picket lines and billboard campaigns failed to do, a storm named Harvey accomplished with one burst pipe and a foot of floodwater. The McDonald’s restaurant in the basement of Ben Taub Hospital was closed after the storm and now, nearly a year later, the ...":1,"#Houston Chronicle: McDonald’s at Ben Taub will not reopen after Harvey - Corporate Accountability":1,"#“At Texas Children’s Hospital, we offer a variety of food choices at varying price points to hospital employees, patients and visitors,” a spokeswoman said in an email statement. “We use this McDonald’s location to embrace the opportunity to educate our patients, their families and visitors about how to make healthy food choices as part of a balanced diet. While we cannot speak to what other hospitals are doing, physicians and staff at Texas Children’s continue to proactively work with our food vendors to offer a wide variety of foods.”":1,"#In Houston, the only remaining hospital with a McDonald’s is Texas Children’s Hospital. That facility also has a Chick-fil-A, as does the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, the group’s website shows.":1,"#By Jenny Deam for the <a ljsid-1=\"\">Houston Chronicle.</a>":1,"#The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine has been targeting hospitals with fast-food outlets since 2013. In that time, nine McDonald’s and two Chick-fil-A’s have closed, a spokeswoman said. Nationwide, 11 McDonald’s, 19 Chick-fil-A’s, and 5 Wendy’s remain in hospitals, according to the group’s most recent figures.":1,"#McLeod declined to confirm or deny that the protests had any bearing on the decision to not extend the lease.":1,"#It is not clear when those concerns surfaced. In two separate interviews with the Chronicle in 2016, executives with the health system lauded the McDonald’s connection, calling it a money-maker for the foundation as well as a source of comfort and familiarity for patients and their families.":1,"#McLeod said the decision to not extend the lease agreement was due to the security concerns of having a public restaurant with easy access to the hospital.":1,"#In May, the cafeteria reopened but the McDonald’s was gone.":1,"#In the early hours of Aug. 27, as Harvey pummeled the Texas Medical Center, a pipe burst in the Ben Taub basement, swamping it with floodwater. Not only was the damaged McDonald’s closed, but so was the cafeteria. After the cleanup, a massive, previously scheduled plumbing repair was undertaken unrelated to the storm.":1,"#Stanley said Harris Health and McDonald’s were still in “conversation” when the storm hit. Neither he nor McLeod could offer any insight into the negotiation, but it quickly became moot.":1,"#The Harris County Hospital District Foundation entered into a 10-year lease agreement with McDonald’s that ended in 2012 but came with an option to extend the arrangement in five-year increments. The first extension was expiring in September 2017 and was not going to be renewed, McLeod said. The company was given a 90-day notice the prior June.":1,"#Bryan McLeod, a spokesman for Harris Health System, said the fast-food outlet was on its way out even before the storm hit. Harvey just sealed the deal.":1,"#“You go upstairs and meet with a cardiologist who says you need to lower your fat intake, your sodium, your cholesterol. And then on the way out the door you can grab a Big Mac,” Rudloff said.":1,"#Houston Chronicle: McDonald’s at Ben Taub will not reopen after Harvey":1,"#August 30, 2018":1,"#The half degree margin is expected to make a significant difference on the planet with impacts of <a ljsid-1=\"\">a two degree warming reported to be much worse in some places</a> than a 1.5 degree warming.":1,"#Shell’s scenario would see global <span ljsid-1=\"\">CO2</span> emissions reach “net zero” by 2070 – falling short of the<a ljsid-3=\"\"> 2050 target</a> needed to meet the Paris Agreement’s aim of “to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5 degrees”.":1,"#While the company described its latest climate scenario as <a ljsid-1=\"\">“radical”</a>, environmentalists have <a ljsid-3=\"\">criticised</a>the report for failing to meet <a ljsid-5=\"\">the aspirational 1.5 degree goa</a>l of the Paris Agreement advocated by <span ljsid-7=\"\">UN</span> Climate.":1,"#In<a ljsid-1=\"\"> a series of tweets</a>, <span ljsid-3=\"\">UN</span> Climate secretariat, which facilitates global climate negotiations between countries, directly linked and quoted from Shell’s report.":1,"#In its latest<a ljsid-1=\"\"> “Sky” scenario</a>, Shell set out its vision on how to limit the global temperature rise to “well below two degrees” compared with 1990 level.":1,"#UN accused of promoting \"Greenwash\" by supporting Shell's solution to climate change":1,"#The UN has been called out for acting as a mouthpiece for oil giant Shell in a tweet campaigners have slammed as evidence of the conflict of interest inside the international organisation overseeing global climate policy.":1,"#DeSmog Blog: UN accused of promoting \"Greenwash\" by supporting Shell's solution to climate change - Corporate Accountability":1,"#Moreover, Shell says that achieving the two degree target<a ljsid-1=\"\"> probably means sucking carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere</a> using technology called<a ljsid-3=\"\"> carbon capture and storage</a>, which remains <a ljsid-5=\"\">unproven at scale today</a>.":1,"#<span ljsid-0=\"\">UN</span> Climate, previously known as the <span ljsid-2=\"\">UNFCCC</span>, was accused of “greenwashing” after it promoted the oil giant’s vision for how the world can move away from fossil fuels and oil.":1,"#Commenting on Shell’s latest scenario, energy experts said the company’s projections would still see<a ljsid-1=\"\">temperatures rise to around 1.7-1.8C</a>, above the Paris Agreement’s aspirational 1.5C goal.":1,"#Shell has been no different. Scenarios published by the company in 2013 would have seen warming<a ljsid-1=\"\"> far in excess of the internationally agreed limit of two degrees</a>.":1,"#Yet, forecasts have repeatedly under-estimated the scale of action required to avoid dangerous warming.":1,"#Big oil companies have set out their visions for the future of energy use before.":1,"#Shell’s forecast":1,"#<span ljsid-0=\"\">UN</span> Climate did not respond to DeSmog <span ljsid-2=\"\">UK</span>’s request for comment.":1,"#Oluwafemi called for <span ljsid-1=\"\">UN</span> Climate to immediately adopt a set of guidelines about conflict of interest and to “kick out” big polluters such as Shell out of the <span ljsid-3=\"\">UN</span> negotiation process.":1,"#In <a ljsid-1=\"\">a report</a> published last month, Amnesty International pointed to “evidence of serious negligence” by Shell claiming the oil giant was taking “weeks to respond to reports of spills and publishing misleading information about the cause and severity of spills, which may result in communities not receiving compensation”.":1,"#<span ljsid-0=\"\">“</span>But in the Niger Delta, we have no reasons to trust them,” he added.":1,"#<span ljsid-0=\"\">“</span>We are now talking about this report when people are still dying in the Niger Delta, living in ongoing pollution and suffering from diseases. What Shell needs to do for the world to take them seriously is to stop pollution and human rights abuses.":1,"#The <span ljsid-1=\"\">UN</span> has been called out for acting as a mouthpiece for oil giant Shell in a tweet campaigners have slammed as evidence of the conflict of interest inside the international organisation overseeing global climate policy.":1,"#<span ljsid-0=\"\">“</span>This is extremely opportunist and turning the global community’s attention away from what the company’s activities really are.":1,"#For Oluwafemi, <span ljsid-1=\"\">UN</span> Climate’s visible support for Shell is unacceptable. Denouncing Shell’s “hypocrisy”, he said: “It is not this sort of greenwashing and the publication of glossy reports that is going to solve global warming.”":1,"#Akinbode Oluwafemi, deputy secretary director of the Nigerian <span ljsid-1=\"\">NGO</span> Environmental Rights Action, works in the Niger Delta region where<a ljsid-3=\"\"> communities are fighting Shell to clean up the pollution of a major oil spill</a> which happened a decade ago.":1,"#In the courts, Shell and oil major Eni are facing prosecution for<a ljsid-1=\"\"> alleged bribery in connection with a $1.3bn payment to gain control of a Nigeria oil field</a> in one of the biggest corruption trials in the energy industry for years.":1,"#<span ljsid-0=\"\">UN</span> Climate also came under fire for promoting Shell in spite of the company’s poor environmental and human rights record.":1,"#<span ljsid-0=\"\">‘</span>Hypocrisy’: Shell’s environmental and human rights record":1,"#He added: “As we move forward with climate action, we can’t forget the past of a corporation like Shell.”":1,"#For Bragg, <span ljsid-1=\"\">UN</span> Climate’s tweet sets the stage for where its secretariat stands on the issue, despite repeated calls for action by governments and <span ljsid-3=\"\">NGO</span>s.":1,"#Although no policy has yet been agreed, the issue is a key agenda item for international negotiators meeting in Bonn later this month.":1,"#<a ljsid-0=\"\">Developing countries made progress on demanding a conflict of interest policy last year</a> against resistance from the world’s biggest economies including the <span ljsid-2=\"\">EU</span>, the <span ljsid-4=\"\">US</span> and Australia.":1,"#By Chloe Farand for <a ljsid-1=\"\">DeSmog Blog UK</a>.":1,"#<span ljsid-0=\"\">“</span><span ljsid-1=\"\">UN</span> Climate’s secretariat is meant to be there to carry out the will of governance, not to promote the <span ljsid-3=\"\">PR</span>or greenwashing of any corporations – let alone one that is responsible for human and environmental abuses,” he added.":1,"#<span ljsid-0=\"\">“</span>Therefore, it’s just greenwashing,” he said. “It’s an advertisement for Shell to be in the news.”":1,"#He told DeSmog <span ljsid-1=\"\">UK</span> Shell’s “Sky” scenario was neither consistent with the Paris Agreement nor had it been endorsed by Shell as a blueprint to shift the company’s business model.":1,"#Bragg described <span ljsid-1=\"\">UN</span> Climate’s “tacit endorsement” of Shell’s latest scenario as another example of the issue at stake.":1,"#Transparency campaigners have long demanded <span ljsid-1=\"\">UN</span> Climate adopt a clear set of guidelines for fossil fuel companies and lobbyists to declare any conflict of interests within the negotiation process.":1,"#Conflict of interest":1,"#Meanwhile, Shell’s report was also called out as “hypocritical” by environmental campaigners who pointed out to Shell’s <a ljsid-1=\"\">devastating environmental and human rights record</a> in places such as the Niger Delta, in Nigeria.":1,"#<span ljsid-0=\"\">“</span>Unfortunately, <span ljsid-2=\"\">UN</span> Climate has been heading into this direction for a long time… They prefer to take fossil fuel corporations – largely responsible for the climate crisis – at their words, that they want to do good. But the facts suggest a different reality,” he said.":1,"#Pointing to the conflict of interest, Jesse Bragg, a spokesman for <span ljsid-1=\"\">NGO</span> Corporate Accountability told DeSmog <span ljsid-3=\"\">UK</span> the tweet was a “questionable” use of the <span ljsid-5=\"\">UN</span>’s body communication channel and showed <span ljsid-7=\"\">UN</span> Climate was keen to remain in the good books of fossil fuel companies.":1,"#<span ljsid-0=\"\">UN</span> Climate propped up Shell at a time when the company is also facing calls by<a ljsid-2=\"\"> activist shareholders to take stronger action on global warming</a>.":1,"#DeSmog Blog: UN accused of promoting “Greenwash” by supporting Shell’s solution to climate change":1,"#April 4, 2018":1,"#Protection Status: On":1,"#corporateaccountability.org":1,"#Valerie Thomas was a scientist and inventor who worked with NASA.  In 1980, she received a patent for her illusion transmitter, which is still used by NASA today in some of its satellite applications.  Read more.":1,"#Valerie Thomas - Corporate Accountability":1,"#(233 characters remaining)":1,"#Not vmeredith? <a ljsid-1=\"\">Click here</a>.":1,"#Welcome back, vmeredith!":1,"#Ayúdanos a alcanzar nuestra meta de 100 donantes antes del 27 de febrero, ¡y un generoso colaborador aportará $10,000 adicionales en fondos vitales!":1,"#Not morisrm? <a ljsid-1=\"\">Click here</a>.":1,"#Welcome back, morisrm!":1,"#Belém, Brazil: On November 16, 2025, Rachel Rose Jackson, Director of Climate Research and Policy at Corporate Accountability at issued the ...":1,"#STATEMENT: Corporate Accountability’s Rachel Rose Jackson on this week’s final days of COP30":1,"#November 17, 2025":1,"#On Saturday, November 22, Corporate Accountability Director of Climate Research and Policy Rachel Rose Jackson issued the following statement. As ...":1,"#STATEMENT: COP30 clock winds down — our closing thoughts":1,"#November 22, 2025":1,"#No older posts found":1,"#Trump Administration’s abandonment of the Paris Agreement sets a dangerous precedent/ El abandono del Acuerdo de París por parte de la Administración de Trump sienta un peligroso precedente":1,"#Ari Belathar, activist and movement leader, will be the new executive director of Corporate Accountability. They will step into the role this February to support the organization as it continues to put movement power and resources behind Global South campaigns.":1,"#Release: Corporate Accountability’s Board of Directors proudly announces the hire of Ari Belathar as Executive Director":1,"#January 28, 2025":1,"#RELEASE: Global coalition releases liability “roadmap” for governments to Make Big Polluters Pay":1,"#(229 characters remaining)":1,"#(230 characters remaining)":1,"#(232 characters remaining)":1,"#(234 characters remaining)":1,"#(236 characters remaining)":1,"#(237 characters remaining)":1,"#El borrador del texto del tratado, parece dejar de lado las salvaguardias contra la interferencia política corporativa.":1,"#Se vislumbran presiones corporativas a medida que se reanudan las conversaciones sobre el tratado contra las pandemias":1,"#The following statement was delivered by Corporate Accountability, associate director of equity and major gifts, at the Wells Fargo annual shareholder's meeting.":1,"#Statement: 2023 Wells Fargo annual shareholders’ meeting":1,"#“Nagpur is the first step in controlling the fate of India’s 600 <a ljsid-1=\"\">smart cities</a> of the future,” said Wilfred D’Costa of the Indian Social Action Forum, one of the two dozen all-India groups protesting the privatization of drinking water in the subcontinent. India plans to make 600 of its existing cities into smart cities by 2023, with the announcement for the first 20 made in early February. All the cities will be run as business centers, <a ljsid-3=\"\">with privatized water, sanitation and more</a>.":1,"#Nagpur’s water privatization scheme is a pilot project, a test case for the rest of India.":1,"#If this is going to be the model for India’s “smart cities” (cities with privatized utilities) like Delhi and Nagpur, smart city citizens need to rethink their water needs, as the water war of the future is likely to be long and drawn out.":1,"#Veolia said it had the ability to provide 10,000 households with drinking water in European cities. This is peanuts when compared to the drinking water needs of millions of people in one Indian city, like Nagpur, which has a population of 2.4 million.":1,"#The Nagpur case, too, has a long genesis.":1,"#In 2005, the coalition government led by the Indian National Congress Party initiated a $20 billion project, called the Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission, which was a massive city modernization scheme. Under the Urban Renewal Mission, the definition of what constitutes a “city” was changed. Anand told Truthout that a city went from being a place with a distinct cultural character to an “engine of growth,” simply an “economic center” of profit and loss, “which is only possible if it is an investment destination.” The Urban Renewal Mission said cities’ local bodies would no longer be responsible for providing civic amenities like waste clearance and drinking water. This paradigm shift made urban local bodies just “facilitators” for profits.":1,"#The change in laws, friendly to corporate interests, began as early as the 1990s, with India’s so-called economic liberalization. By the early 1990s, state governments were told to withdraw their involvement in services like education, garbage collection and water treatment. By 1998, in Chhattisgarh, for example, whole rivers were being <a ljsid-1=\"\">sold by the government</a> to companies like Radius Water Ltd., the Jindal Group and many others.":1,"#The mandatory reforms demanded that certain laws of the local bodies be changed and jurisdictions relinquished, as well as a double accounting system be adopted and a user charge regime introduced. In 2014, when the Modi government came to power, it scrapped the Urban Renewal Mission and initiated a “special purpose vehicles” model (based on the creation of financial entities structured to prevent certain aspects of businesses from being affected by the rest of the company’s business) for every sector of civic function. This way, all civic decisions would be “special purpose vehicles” decisions, not decisions made by an elected local body (a decision by people’s representatives). These non-elected entities would make recommendations to the legislative councils, local councils and municipalities.":1,"#The Nagpur Municipal Corporation Employees Union has been protesting water privatization since 2011. The union’s leader, Jammu Anand, told Truthout that the protest is “part of a larger struggle to stop 1.2 billion Indians from having to pay through their nose to privately controlled companies for their drinking water.”":1,"#Rivers and other bodies of water in India are sources of the country’s spiritualism. Activists working for water rights say capturing India’s waters is akin to capturing the nation’s soul. The law in India is that all bodies of water are state property. As such, the government can do whatever it pleases with the waters of India. Right now, India’s water war has three fronts.":1,"#Nagpur is divided into 10 water zones. The new joint venture, Orange City Water Private Limited, took up one as a demo zone before the 2014 elections. Under the new “special purpose vehicles” mechanism, it became mandatory for the Nagpur Municipal Corporation to borrow 30 percent of its funds from financial institutions like the World Bank. The Nagpur Urban Local Body also has to buy raw, untreated water and electricity for the treatment plant and pumping stations and to provide tankers and petrol for the distribution network, where piping is not complete. The Urban Local Body has to pay Orange City Water at the rate of 10.38 rupees per unit for 250 million liters of water supplied daily to the city, while Orange City Water collects for the Nagpur Municipal Corporation only 6.38 rupees per unit as a water tariff from the consumer. Thus, the Nagpur Local Body now pays 4 rupees per unit as a subsidy to the private company Orange City Water ($1 is equivalent to about 70 rupees). The Nagpur municipality used to spend 90 million rupees to supply water to the city.":1,"#Nagpur is the political platform of Nitin Gadkari, a high-profile BJP leader. His dream has been to make Nagpur a logistical hub for goods and services. The ideological leader, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, has theoretically always opposed the privatization of services like water and electricity and calls itself totally “national.” However, it has been completely silent on these issues ever since the Modi government came to power.":1,"#Before the loan, the World Bank asked the Jal Board to appoint a consultant to manage each zone. Each zone would have four experts in the team, and each expert would be paid $25,000 per month by the Delhi water board, according to Kejriwal. A few years ago, Kejriwal and his supporters demanded to see the project papers under the Right to Information Act (which came into force 2005). The 9,000 pages of documents subsequently made available to public scrutiny showed that the water board earned 1.63 billion rupees and that 63 percent (annually about 1.08 billion rupees) of its money would go to paying these experts. To meet this consultancy charge, the water board would have to raise the piped drinking water tariff in Delhi by nine times. The World Bank forced the water board to cancel the technical bidding twice, as its consultant choice, PricewaterhouseCoopers, did not meet the set criteria. So now, Delhi’s twice-elected chief minister Kejriwal asks a very pertinent question, “Are we citizens of an independent nation?”":1,"#The rationale for privatization was to overcome losses for the Urban Local Body; in 2016, the Nagpur Municipal Corporation will shell out 1.8 billion rupees. There is also a 2 billion-rupee scam in meters. Despite Prime Minister Narendra Modi calling repeatedly for “made in India” technology, Orange City Water Private Limited buys and fits euro-norms compliant meters and sells them at twice the purchasing cost to the Urban Local Body.":1,"#Another curious example is the attempt to <a ljsid-1=\"\">privatize Delhi’s drinking water</a>, traditionally supplied by a government entity called the Delhi Jal Board.India’s capital city, Delhi, at the time housed more than 15 million people. It is divided into 21 water supply zones. The city-state was, at the time, ruled by the BJP. The cash-rich city government decided that the water board should seek a loan from the World Bank to privatize drinking water; the Bank stipulated that the supplier had to be a multinational company. “It has never been explained why a [World Bank] loan would be necessary for a surplus reserves state,” said Arvind Kejriwal, now Delhi’s chief minister, in a <a ljsid-3=\"\">YouTube broadcast</a>.":1,"#One other thing that happened with the economic reforms is the mandatory process of an audit for every such project. Three things that all such audit reports now always say are: 60 percent of resources (water, energy etc.) goes to waste; 50 percent of the supply is unaccounted for; and existing departments, whether for electricity or water or waste disposal, are suffering leakages and losses and are incapable of managing supply, often due to the indifference of elected representatives. In other words, India’s civic bodies – which have been public managing agencies overseeing services like water and sanitation for the last 70 years – are incompetent. Once this premise was set, privatization was a cakewalk for the companies.":1,"#Nagpur’s water privatization scheme is a pilot project, a test case for the rest of India. Though the water supply project is not even 40 percent complete and has not proven its efficacy, “in a sudden recent move, the Narendra Modi government has accepted the Nagpur model of public-private partnership as the ‘most successful’ model for drinking water supply in the country, without even reviewing the necessary data,” Anand told Truthout, calling for the return of Nagpur’s drinking water supply to the urban local body, the traditional service provider for Indian cities.":1,"#A joint venture company called Orange City Water Private Limited, set up by Vishvaraj and Veolia to privately supply Nagpur, already has eyes on <a ljsid-1=\"\">supplying Bhopal</a>, yet another central Indian city, under a BJP government.":1,"#Radius Water Ltd. is another such company: It controls rivers – and therefore, drinking, irrigation and livelihood water – in another BJP-ruled central Indian state called Chhattisgarh, which was carved out from the state of Madhya Pradesh in 1998. The rivers were sold when Chhattisgarh was still a part of the larger state of Madhya Pradesh, which was also ruled by the BJP.":1,"#Since 2007, Vishvaraj Infrastructure Ltd. has emerged as the biggest player in India’s drinking water scene, thanks to a partnership with a French multinational. The World Bank held an ownership stake in the company’s Indian subsidiary until 2014. Vishvaraj Infrastructure Ltd. is a small, privately owned Indian company based in the central Indian city of Nagpur. It had no previous expertise in water treatment, distribution or management. Activists in the state of Maharashtra are quick to agree that the company’s only claim to fame is its closeness to the ruling dispensation, the <a ljsid-1=\"\">Bharatiya Janata Party</a> (BJP), and its ideological parent, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, also headquartered in Nagpur, the third-largest city in Maharashtra.":1,"#In the same realm, Wells Fargo has a history of being among the <a ljsid-1=\"\">top sponsors, funders and board members for police foundations of multiple major cities</a>, including sponsoring police foundations in <a ljsid-3=\"\">Charlotte</a>, <a ljsid-5=\"\">Sacramento</a>, and <a ljsid-7=\"\">Seattle</a>, <a ljsid-9=\"\">Atlanta</a> y <a ljsid-11=\"\">Charlotte</a>. Police foundations are private organizations dedicated to raising money for police departments as well as supplying them with <a ljsid-13=\"\">weaponry and surveillance technology</a>. Their private status enables these foundations to add millions of dollars to police budgets with very little public oversight or approval. Police foundations have been known to supply <a ljsid-15=\"\">departments with K-9s and police horses, both used as a means to harm black people and protestors</a>. The surveillance technology these foundations provide to police departments are highly controversial and disproportionately “tested and targeted in Black, Brown and Indigneous communities”. In response to the calls to defund the police that arose in the general public during Summer 2020, the police foundations for NYC, Washington D.C, Seattle and Philadelphia<a ljsid-17=\"\"> removed information on their websites</a> regarding partner organizations and board members. A shameful act intended to limit the public’s knowledge and to protect donating corporations, like Wells Fargo, from public outrage. In this year of 2022, a senior leader from Wells Fargo is listed on the <a ljsid-19=\"\">Atlanta Police Foundations’ Board of Trustees</a>, giving ample reason to believe that their efforts to fund state-sanctioned violence against Black Americans isn’t stopping anytime soon.":1,"#While Wells Fargo was <a ljsid-1=\"\">founded in 1852, it acquired Wachovia in 2008</a>, thus intertwining itself with a very dark history. Wachovia <a ljsid-3=\"\">was founded in 1879</a>, descended from the <a ljsid-5=\"\">Georgia Railroad and Banking Company, the Bank of Charleston</a> y <a ljsid-7=\"\">Atlanta’s Fourth National Bank</a>. All of these companies had deep ties to the mistreatment of black people. <a ljsid-9=\"\">As part of their banking practices, the Georgia Railroad and Banking Company accepted slaves as collateral on mortaged properties or loans</a>. They owned at least 162 slaves during their time. The Bank of Charleston had similar practices, accepting minimum 529 slaves as collateral for loans and mortagaged properties. When slaveowners defaulted on their payments, the Bank would seize ownership of some slaves.":1,"#No posts found":1,"#STATEMENT: Nestlé’s shady CSR won’t clean up its filthy image":1,"#January 15, 2019":1,"#“the effects of slavery…and recommend appropriate remedies including reparations”":1,"#But while Wells Fargo paying reparations will help mitigate some of the harm done, the systems that allowed these actions to unfold must also change. Systemic harms also require systemic solutions, which is why Corporate Accountability supports H.R.40, the congressional bill to develop and implement a comprehensive study focused on":1,"#” during the height of Black Lives Matter protests was a lie. Simply put, since its acquisition of Wachovia, Wells Fargo continues to utilize its financial power to uphold the institutions that directly threaten the wellbeing of Black Americans, in a bid to prioritize its own financial gain.":1,"#watershed moment":1,"#. Wells Fargo’s overtly discriminatory practices are a blatant indication that its claims of having a “":1,"#Wells Fargo was accused of conducting “fake interviews” of diverse candidates for positions that were already filled, in a bid to boost diversity efforts on paper":1,"#. Most recently,":1,"#Bloomberg’s analysis and as visualized below":1,"#. Seventy-two percent of White refinancing applicants were approved, compared to just forty-seven percent of Black applicants, per":1,"#accepted less than half of Black mortgage refinancing applicants in 2020":1,"#. Bloomberg published an article only a week earlier detailing how Wells Fargo, the largest bank mortgage lender in the country,":1,"#modern form of redlining":1,"#, which Bloomberg referred to as a":1,"#Wells Fargo’s practices push Black homeowners into foreclosure":1,"#: “In recent days, they [Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Citigroup Inc., Goldman Sachs Group Inc., JP Morgan Chase] have all officially opposed shareholder groups’ calls for them to conduct and publicize racial-equity audits and other changes, saying they are already doing enough to address equity issues” . Wells Fargo’s actions as of late, with its relationship with the Black community hanging on a tightrope, have only exacerbated the problem. A lawsuit filed on March 18 in a San Francisco federal court, argues that":1,"#vote no on racial equity resolutions":1,"#The superficial nature of Wells Fargo’s PR response was revealed early last year when they asked shareholders to":1,"#and NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund President Sherrilyn Ifill, among others, but more importantly, it drew attention to Wells Fargo’s dismal record in the Black community.":1,"#U.S. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez":1,"#” in a virtual meeting, followed by a June 2020 company-wide memo. This statement drew criticism from":1,"#a very limited pool of Black talent to recruit from":1,"#in the realms of representation, compensation, diversity role reporting, education session and anti-racism manager training. From doubling black leadership, to establishing positions to drive diversity and inclusion, it seemed to be an ambitious plan. But with Wells Fargo still facing discrimintation lawsuits and government divestments in 2021 and 2022, these statements have proved to be nothing more than an attempt to save face in the eyes of the public. It is worth noting that the pledges from Scharf and Wells Fargo were made on already shaky grounds; Scharf chalked up the scarcity of Black employees at the company to “":1,"#5 major commitments":1,"#from opening any new accounts with Wells Fargo in April 2022. This is noteworthy given that in the midst of the wave of racial reckoning that swept the nation in the summer of 2020, Wells Fargo CEO and President Charlie W. Scharf issued":1,"#city government of New York City to divest":1,"#In addition, Wells Fargo has consistently shown that it has no reservations about targeting its Black patrons with predatory schemes. Their discriminatory practices against Black homebuyers have failed to shift, prompting the":1,"#, giving ample reason to believe that their efforts to fund state-sanctioned violence against Black Americans isn’t stopping anytime soon.":1,"#Atlanta Police Foundations’ Board of Trustees":1,"#regarding partner organizations and board members. A shameful act intended to limit the public’s knowledge and to protect donating corporations, like Wells Fargo, from public outrage. In this year of 2022, a senior leader from Wells Fargo is listed on the":1,"#removed information on their websites":1,"#. The surveillance technology these foundations provide to police departments are highly controversial and disproportionately “tested and targeted in Black, Brown and Indigneous communities”. In response to the calls to defund the police that arose in the general public during Summer 2020, the police foundations for NYC, Washington D.C, Seattle and Philadelphia":1,"#departments with K-9s and police horses, both used as a means to harm black people and protestors":1,"#. Their private status enables these foundations to add millions of dollars to police budgets with very little public oversight or approval. Police foundations have been known to supply":1,"#weaponry and surveillance technology":1,"#. Police foundations are private organizations dedicated to raising money for police departments as well as supplying them with":1,"#Atlanta":1,"#Seattle":1,"#Sacramento":1,"#Charlotte":1,"#, including sponsoring police foundations in":1,"#top sponsors, funders and board members for police foundations of multiple major cities":1,"#In the same realm, Wells Fargo has a history of being among the":1,"#in these private prison companies.":1,"#still held over a hundred thousand shares total":1,"#of prison divestment campaigns by stating it was exiting the credit agreement with Core Civic and phasing out of its partnership with GEO Group. This was a significant win for the organizers involved with these campaigns. But as of December 2021, Wells Fargo":1,"#succumbed to the mounting public pressure":1,"#What’s the significance of this? Core Civic and GEO Group are corporations which profit from and perpetuate the imprisonment and modern day enslavement of Black Americans. In 2019, Wells Fargo":1,"#by In the Public Interest outlines the history between these private prison operators and Wells Fargo in more detail.":1,"#report":1,"#featured in a":1,"#chart":1,"#, another leading private prison corporation presently known as Core Civic, and was also named as the trustee for a $300 million GEO Group bond. Not only did Wells Fargo learn nothing from its discriminatory lending lawsuit, it proceeded to bankroll the two leading corporations perpetuating modern-day enslavement of Black Americans through the private prison system. The":1},"version":7249}]