By 
This summer, the RAN energy team has been casting our eyes around the globe and researching the impact that coal mining is having on deforestation. One of the regions that we are most concerned about is in India, where more than 1.1million hectares of forest are threatened by the expansion of open-pit coal mining.
Open-pit mining entails clear-felling of forests, with impacts on forest-dependent communities, as well as endangered species such as tigers, leopards and elephants.
The vast majority of Indian coal mining is carried out by the state-owned company Coal India Limited (CIL). CIL has a serious record of corruption, legal violations, water and air pollution, and a poor safety and labor rights record to boot.
That’s why RAN was alarmed to discover that several major U.S. banks are considering underwriting an upcoming share offer by CIL. This week, along with our allies at Greenpeace India, we wrote to Bank of America, Citi and Goldman Sachs to alert them to CIL’s poor record and to politely request that these banks stay clear of doing business with this environmental and human rights offender.