French multinational energy company Engie has informed Burma Campaign UK that it is pulling out of the Upper Yeywa dam project in Shan State Burma, after being placed on a ‘Dirty List’ by Burma Campaign UK in December 2018.
Engie is a French multinational energy and services company. In the UK it is an energy supplier and works in a range of services, including working for the NHS.
Engie subsidiary company Tractabel, has a subsidiary, Lahmeyer, which was working on the controversial Upper Yeywa dam in Shan State, Burma. The dam is opposed by local residents and will result in displacement and environmental damage.
The Shan Human Rights Foundation, working with local civil society, has highlighted the negative impacts of dam building in Shan State in a series of reports available at: https://www.shanhumanrights.org/
In a letter from Xavier Hubert, Ethics Compliance and Privacy Director of Engie, dated 21st January 2019, the company stated:
“As we informed you in the context of this project, our affiliate, Lahmeyer International, formed a consortium with the company Stucky SA, long before the acquisition of Lahmeyer International by ENGIE. We inform you that the contract with Stucky has been terminated at the very beginning of January 2019 and that as a result neither Lahmeyer International nor any member of ENGIE Group is any more involved in the project.”
Burma Campaign UK has now removed Engie from the ‘Dirty List’.
“We welcome the decision by Engie to end its involvement in the Upper Yeywa dam project,” said Mark Farmaner, Director of Burma Campaign UK. “Dozens of dams are being built across Burma which are linked to conflict, environmental destruction and human rights violations. Burma Campaign UK will continue to target companies involved in these projects, highlighting what they are doing and putting pressure on them to stop. We will also be stepping up pressure on Gruner, the Swiss company which is the parent company of Stucky, to end their involvement in dams in Burma.”
More information on Engie’s previous involvement in the Upper Yeywa dam is available here.