Yahoo – AFP,
Martin Abbugao, 9 Oct 2015
Singapore (AFP) - An umbrella group of local and foreign banks in smog-hit Singapore has urged members to make "sustainable development" part of their lending requirements, stepping up pressure on companies linked to land-clearing fires in Indonesia.
A worker waters a field as downtown buildings are shrouded in smog in Singapore on October 5, 2015 (AFP Photo/Roslan Rahman) |
Singapore (AFP) - An umbrella group of local and foreign banks in smog-hit Singapore has urged members to make "sustainable development" part of their lending requirements, stepping up pressure on companies linked to land-clearing fires in Indonesia.
The
158-member Association of Banks in Singapore (ABS) on Thursday issued
guidelines for the inclusion of greenhouse gas emissions, deforestation, forest
degradation and biodiversity loss among the criteria for approving commercial
loans.
The move
came in the wake of fires illegally started to clear land for plantations on
Sumatra island and the Indonesian part of Borneo, which have shrouded Singapore
and Malaysia in acrid smoke since early September.
"The
banking sector in Singapore wants to play a bigger role in driving responsible
business and long-term sustainable development," ABS director Ong-Ang Ai
Boon said in a statement.
The smoky
haze has also reached the popular Thai holiday islands of Phuket and Samui,
forcing several planes packed with beach-bound tourists to turn back.
Palm oil
and pulp and paper companies are believed to be the main culprits behind the
use of burning to clear massive tracts of land for their plantations, but
prosecution by Indonesian authorities has been rare, prompting affected
countries like Singapore to resort to economic pressure.
Singapore's
biggest supermarket chain, NTUC Fairprice, this week withdrew from its shelves
all paper products sourced from Indonesian-owned Asia Pulp & Paper (APP),
which has corporate offices in the city-state.
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