EITI — Extracting transparency
The Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative is determined to stamp out embezzlement, but has its work cut out. When it launched in 2002 the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative aimed high. A coalition of governments, companies, civil society groups and investors, it promised member countries an improved investment climate, strengthened accountability and good governance. Those outcomes would contribute to economic stability, it said, and prevent conflict in the oil, mining and gas sectors. In return for these benefits, countries would be asked as members of the anti-corruption scheme to publish details of revenue received from extractive companies. The declarations would be checked against company disclosures to look for any mismatch between what companies said they had paid for contracts and what governments said they had received. As operators in capital-intensive industries that depend on long-term stability, companies equally saw the attraction of the scheme. But it was not until the initiative was revamped in 2005 to include a more rigorous auditing process that it really got noticed, says Jonas Moberg, head of the EITI international secretariat. He says: “One of the main strengths of EITI today is that it is flexible enough to allow countries to implement it in different ways, yet robust enough to ensure minimum standards are achieved.” But since then, just three of the the 37 oil, gas and mining companies that have endorsed EITI have complied with the requirements to report on steps to meet its transparency requirements. These three companies are Shell, Chevron and StatoilHydro. Radhika Sarin, international coordinator at Publish What You Pay, a global coalition of NGOs campaigning for transparency in the extractive industries, says the problem is that there is too much onus on the countries involved in the scheme. Image source: ethicalcorp.com.> Continue.
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