UK bank Standard Chartered has announced that it will no longer advise Indian company Adani in its proposed $12.5bn Carmichael coal mine, being developed in Queensland, Australia.
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The bank said it will end its contract with the Indian company and will not help finance the project.
Standard Chartered’s latest move is being claimed as another victory for environment groups that have opposed the project, claiming that it would threaten endangered species in the region.
Standard Chartered told media sources: "As a result of this ongoing review by Standard Chartered and the delays experienced by Adani in receipt of its project approvals, both parties have agreed to end the bank’s role in the Carmichael project."
The bank’s latest decision comes after the Australian Federal Court overturned the government’s approval of the mine, saying that Australia’s Environment Minister Greg Hunt did not consider the mine’s impact on two vulnerable species the yakka skink and the ornamental snake.
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By GlobalDataIn May, the bank said that it would stop backing the project until it had examined its environmental impacts.
According to environmentalists, the mine development may lead to increased carbon emissions and also threaten the Great Barrier Reef.
Three major French banks BNP Paribas, Société Générale and Credit Agricole had announced in April that they will not fund the coal mine development, due to growing environmental concerns.
Last week Commonwealth Bank of Australia also ended its role as financial adviser on the controversial project.
The proposed thermal coal mine in the north of the Galilee Basin in Central Queensland has the potential to produce 60 million tonnes of coal a year.
Image: Map of Great Barrier Reef Demis. Photo: courtesy of Mats Halldin~commonswiki.
