Difference between revisions of "Atradius N.V."

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     | data5 = 2004
     | data5 = 2004
     | title =
     | title =
     | label6= Emissions (All Scopes)
     | label6= Emissions (of parent organisation GCO)
     | data6 = XXX Megatons of CO2 (2020)  
     | data6 = 3.5 Megatons of CO2 (2020)  
     | title =  
     | title =  
    | label7= NCI assessment
    | data7 = Very low
     | title =  
     | title =  
     | label7= Total Revenue  
     | label8= Total Revenue  
     | data7 = EUR 2.15 billion  (2021)
     | data8 = EUR 2.15 billion  (2021)
     | label8= Stock Exchange
     | label9= Stock Exchange
     | data8 = shares are not traded
     | data9 = shares are not traded
     | label9= Key People
     | label10= Key People
     | data9 =  
     | data10 =  
* David Capdevila(CEO)
* David Capdevila(CEO)
* Claus Gramlich-Eicher (CFO)
* Claus Gramlich-Eicher (CFO)
* Xavier Freixes (Chairman)
* Xavier Freixes (Chairman)
     | label10= Number of Employees
     | label11= Number of Employees
     | data10 = 3,647
     | data11 = 3,647
     | title =
     | title =
     | label11= Subsidiaries
     | label12= Subsidiaries
     | data11 = {{plainlist|
     | data12 = {{plainlist|
* dochterbedrijf 1
* Atradius Dutch State Business;
* dochterbedrijf 2
* Atradius Insurance Holding N.V.;
* Atradius Collections B.V.;
* Atradius Credit Insurance N.V.;
* Atradius Credit Management Services B.V.;
* Atradius Information Services B.V.<ref>Atradius N.V. <i>Embracing change: Annual Report 2021 Atradius N.V.</i>, p. 110, retrieved on April 28th 2022. https://atradius.nl/mkbzeker/annual-reports.html</ref>
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'''Atradius''' provides trade credit insurance, surety and collections services worldwide through a presence in more than 50 countries around the globe.<ref>https://atradiuscollections.com/ca-en/about-us/mission-and-vision.html</ref> It is the credit insurance arm of Grupo Catalana Occidente (GCO.MC). The Atradius Group today is the amalgamation of a number of international trade credit insurers and affiliated organizations from around the world. Although now Spanish owned, the holding company Atradius N.V. and its headquarters remain in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Additionally, Atradius DSB is the official Export Credit Agency in the Netherlands.<ref>Atradius. <i>Helping Dutch companies by insuring their export contract since 1932</i>, accessed on April 25th 2022. https://atradiusdutchstatebusiness.nl/en/</ref> In 2021 the company had a revenue of 2.15 billion euros.<ref>https://atradius.nl/mkbzeker/annual-reports.html</ref> The company employs 3,647 people.<ref>https://atradius.nl/mkbzeker/annual-reports.html p138</ref> The company is rated ‘A (excellent) outlook stable’ by AM Best and ' A2 outlook stable’ by Moody's.<ref>https://atradius.nl/mkbzeker/annual-reports.html p7</ref>  
'''Atradius N.V.''' provides trade credit insurance, surety and collections services worldwide.<ref>https://atradiuscollections.com/ca-en/about-us/mission-and-vision.html</ref> It is a subsidiary of its parent organization Grupo Catalana Occidente (GCO) for whom it enables credit insurance. Today, the Atradius Group is a collection of a multitude of international trade insurers around the world. Despite being owned by GCO, it is still headquartered in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Additionally, Atradius DSB is the official Export Credit Agency in the Netherlands.<ref>Atradius. <i>Helping Dutch companies by insuring their export contract since 1932</i>, accessed on April 25th 2022. https://atradiusdutchstatebusiness.nl/en/</ref> In 2021 the company had a revenue of 2.15 billion euros.<ref>https://atradius.nl/mkbzeker/annual-reports.html</ref> The company employs 3,647 people.<ref>https://atradius.nl/mkbzeker/annual-reports.html p138</ref>  


== Company Structure ==
== Company Structure ==
The now international group was renamed Atradius in 2004. In 2008 the group merged with the Spanish credit insurer Crédito y Caución, founded in 1929, and subsequently gained an additional foothold in the Spanish speaking world. Atradius is part of Grupo Catalana Occidente (GCO.MC), one of the leading insurers in Spain and worldwide in credit insurance. Grupo Catalana Occidente holds 36% of Atradius' shares directly, and 64% indirectly through its subsidiary Grupo Compania Espanola de Credito y Caucion. This means Atradius-shares are not traded on a stock exchange.
Despite being originally founded in the Netherlands to improve trade conditions for Dutch businesses, Atradius is currently a collection of multiple international insurers. After merging with the Spanish insurers Crédito y Caución and Grupo Catalana Occidente, Atradius gained an additional foothold in the Spanish speaking world. These aforementioned groups own all of Atradius' shares. Hence, Atradius' shares are not traded on a stock exchange.


=== Management Board ===
=== Management Board ===
Line 130: Line 136:


=== Accountant ===
=== Accountant ===
The General Meeting appointed PricewaterhouseCoopers Accountants N.V. as the Company’s external auditor for the financial year 2021.<ref>https://atradius.nl/mkbzeker/annual-reports.html p28</ref>
The General Meeting appointed PricewaterhouseCoopers Accountants N.V. as the Company’s external auditor for the financial year of 2021.<ref>https://atradius.nl/mkbzeker/annual-reports.html p28</ref> In the three-paged audit report, the accountant makes no mention of the climate crisis as a potential risk for Atradius' long-term existence.<ref>Atradius Group. ''Annual Report 2021,'' pp. 154-156, retrieved on May 16th 2022. https://atradius.nl/mkbzeker/annual-reports.html</ref>


=== Main Activities ===
=== Main Activities ===
Line 147: Line 153:


=====2016=====
=====2016=====
The Annual Report 2016 states on p. 46:
 
As a financial services firm, our environmental impact is small compared to many other industries. However, our customers and other stakeholders still expect us to minimise our impact, and as a responsible business whose operations ultimately rely on natural resources, we are constantly looking at opportunities to make efficient and sustainable use of natural resources. To promote greater environmental responsibility, initiatives have been introduced in respect of energy use, recycling and waste disposal, transportation and procurement. We are a member of the United Nations Global Compact. The Global Compact’s 10 principles resonate highly with our values. The Global Compact focuses on four core areas, to which we respond in different ways. To learn more about our commitment to the UNGC’s 10 principles, please see our Communication on Progress Report.
According to Atradius themselves, their environmental impact is relatively small compared to other industries. Despite that, they state that they are looking at opportunities to make efficient and sustainable use of natural resources, as is expected by their customers, stakeholders, and others.<ref>Atradius N.V. <i>Leading the future: Annual Report 2016</i>, p. 49. https://atradius.nl/artikel/jaarverslagen.html</ref> As a result, they have introduced a multitude of initiatives concerning energy use, recycling and waste disposal, transportation and procurement. Additionally, they are a member of the United Nationals Global Compact (UNGC), whose principles they strive to commit to. According to a research study conducted by EcoVadis, companies committed to the UN Global Compact principles have on average better sustainability performance.<ref>EcoVadis. <i>Commitment vs. Practice: a Comparison of CSR Performance of the UN Global Compact Signatories and Non-Signatories</i>, p. 7, published on March 2019 and retrieved on April 24th 2022. https://resources.ecovadis.com/sustainable-procurement/comparison-csr-performance-un-global-compact-signatories-non-signatories</ref>. The published results put Atradius in the upper half of all rated companies.<ref name=":0">Atradius N.V. <i>Embracing change: Annual Report 2021</i>, p. 49, retrieved on April 28th 2022. https://atradius.nl/artikel/jaarverslagen.html</ref>


=====2020=====
=====2020=====
The Annual report 2020 states on p. 52:
 
The title of the Corporate Social Responsibility chapter in our annual report has been changed to Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Sustainability to reflect the renewed ambition, as well as its wider scope and involvement. In 2020, we also established the Group Sustainability Committee to guide and support our ambitions on a senior level. The Sustainability Committee has consulting and decision-making duties in relation to the development of sustainability and embedding it in the group’s strategy.  
In 2020, Atradius changed the title of the Corporate Social Responsibility chapter to ''Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Sustainability'' to reflect their renewed ambition. Additionally, they established the Group Sustainability Committee, whose job it is to consult and decision-make regarding sustainability duties.<ref name=":1">Atradius. <i>Annual Report 2020</i>, retrieved on April 24th 2022. https://atradius.nl/artikel/jaarverslagen.html</ref>
The Sustainability Master Plan goals are amongst others:  
 
#Offer a common working framework in the sustainability area for the entities that are part of Grupo Catalana Occidente, including Atradius. 
Their Sustainability Master Plan goals were, amongst others, to:  
#Offer a common working framework in the sustainability area for the entities that are part of Grupo Catalana Occidente, including Atradius;
#Establish a work agenda to continue to promote sustainability for the period 2020-2023 and define responsibilities.   
#Establish a work agenda to continue to promote sustainability for the period 2020-2023 and define responsibilities.   
A few examples of ESG Sustainability initiatives that Atradius has undertaken are; creation of a ‘Group HR Policy’ and a ‘Group Human Rights Policy’, the Corporate Social Responsibility Tribe to increase awareness within the organisation through engagement and webinars, and an investigation of whether there is a need/demand from our customers for a ‘sustainable’ product. ''Comment: the last part sounds passive.''
 
A few examples of ESG Sustainability initiatives that Atradius has undertaken are the creation of a ‘Group HR Policy’ and a ‘Group Human Rights Policy’, the Corporate Social Responsibility Tribe to increase awareness within the organization through engagement and webinars, and an investigation of whether there is a need/demand from our customers for a ‘sustainable’ product.  
 
In their annual report, Atradius failed to include their entire CO2 footprint. Instead, they only focused on the CO2 output of energy consumption of travel, both of which went down most likely as a direct result of the COVID-pandemic.<ref>Atradius. <i>Annual Report 2020</i>, p. 54, retrieved on April 24th 2022. https://atradius.nl/artikel/jaarverslagen.html</ref> Additionally, Atradius puts a lot of focus on investigating the demand  from their costumers (businesses out to trade with international countries/companies and make money), as opposed to aiding their costumers in becoming greener.


=== Financial Results since 2015 ===
=== Financial Results since 2015 ===
Line 169: Line 179:
|1.76 billion EUR  
|1.76 billion EUR  
|0.17 billion EUR
|0.17 billion EUR
|71 million EUR
|64.9 million EUR
|-
|-
|2016
|2016
|1.71 billion EUR  
|1.71 billion EUR  
|0.21 billion EUR
|0.21 billion EUR
|76 million EUR
|71.2 million EUR
|-
|-
|2017
|2017
|1.83 billion EUR  
|1.83 billion EUR  
|0.18 billion EUR
|0.18 billion EUR
|83 million EUR
|76.7 million EUR
|-
|-
|2018
|2018
|1.89 billion EUR  
|1.89 billion EUR  
|0.20 billion EUR
|0.20 billion EUR
|91 million EUR
|83.9 million EUR
|-
|-
|2019
|2019
|2.01 billion EUR  
|2.01 billion EUR  
|0.22 billion EUR
|0.22 billion EUR
|102 million EUR
|91.8 million EUR
|-
|-
|2020
|2020
|1.97 billion EUR  
|1.97 billion EUR  
|0.04 billion EUR
|0.04 billion EUR
|90 million EUR
|102.9 million EUR
|-
|-
|2021
|2021
|2.15 billion EUR  
|2.15 billion EUR  
|0.24 billion EUR
|0.24 billion EUR
|XXX EUR
|91 million EUR
|}
|}
====Scandals and Controversies====


== Current Emissions ==
== Current Emissions ==


{| class="wikitable"
{| class="wikitable"
|+Environmental Key Performance Indicators  
|+Environmental Key Performance Indicators<ref>Atradius N.V. <i>Annual Report 2021</i>, p. 50, retrieved on April 28th 2022. https://atradius.nl/artikel/jaarverslagen.html</ref>
!Item
!Item
!2019
!2019
Line 249: Line 257:
|-
|-
|}
|}
Source: <ref>Annual Report 2021 page 50</ref> All items show a significant improvement. This could be largely related to the COVID-situation. In 2021 there was an increase in the use of energy and a large increase in waste.
 
All items show a significant improvement. However, this could be largely related to the COVID-situation. They admitted this in their 2020 report by noting that "due to Covid-19 almost all figures were lower in 2020 than they would be normally".<ref>Atradius N.V. <i>Annual Report 2020</i>, p. 54, retrieved on April 28th 2022. https://atradius.nl/artikel/jaarverslagen.html</ref>
 
In 2021 there was an increase in the use of energy and a large increase in waste.
 
=== Emissions ===
There is insufficient information on the emissions level of Atradius, so these numbers are taken from its parent group GCO.


{| class="wikitable"
{| class="wikitable"
|+Total emissions tonnes of CO2 for the Grupo Catalana Occidente  
|+Total emissions tonnes of CO2 for the Grupo Catalana Occidente
!Year
!Scope 1
!Scope 1
!Scope 2
!Scope 2
!Scope 3
!Scope 3
!Total
|-
|-
|135 tonnes of CO2 (2020)
|'''2020'''
|2477 tonnes of CO2 (2020)
|134.57 tonnes of CO2  
|unknown tonnes of CO2 (2020)
|2,477.41 tonnes of CO2  
|Unknown
|Unknown
|-
|-
|119 tonnes (2021)
|'''2021'''
|1994 tonnes (2021)
|119.10 tonnes of CO2
|1433 tonnes (2021)
|1,994.39 tonnes of CO2
|1,432.61 tonnes of CO2
|3,546.1 tonnes of CO2
|-
|-
|}
|}
In 2021, the scope-3 emissions were partly calculated. The numbers are totals for the GCO-group, not just for Atradius.<ref>[https://www.grupocatalanaoccidente.com/eng/non-financial-information/reports Sustainability Report 2021 p. 43]</ref>
 
In 2021, the scope-3 emissions were partly calculated. The numbers are totals for the GCO-group, not just for Atradius.<ref>Catalana Occidente. <i>Sustainability Report - Non-Financial Information Statement</i>, p. 42, retrieved on April 28th 2022. https://www.grupocatalanaoccidente.com/eng/non-financial-information/reports</ref> Scope 3 includes the categories of activities related to fuel and electricity, goods and services purchased and business trips (by train and by plane).<ref>Catalana Occidente. <i>Sustainability Report - Non-Financial Information Statemet</i>, p. 42, retrieved on April 28th 2022. https://www.grupocatalanaoccidente.com/eng/non-financial-information/reports</ref> This excludes most scope 3 categories.


== Climate Policy and Plans ==
== Climate Policy and Plans ==


In 2020, the Grupo Catalana Occidente established the Group Sustainability Committee to guide and support their environmental ambitions on a senior level.<ref name=":1" /> The Sustainability Committee has consulting and decision-making duties in relation to the development of sustainability and embedding it in the group’s strategy.
The Sustainability Master Plan goals are:
# Offer a common working framework in the sustainability area for the entities that are part of Grupo Catalana Occidente, including Atradius;
# Establish a work agenda to continue to promote sustainability for the period 2020-2023 and define responsibilities.
A few examples of ESG Sustainability initiatives that Atradius has undertaken are:
# The creation of a ‘Group HR Policy’ and a ‘Group Human Rights Policy’;
# The Corporate Social Responsibility Tribe to increase awareness within the organization through engagement and webinars;
# An investigation of whether there is a need/demand from our customers for a ‘sustainable’ product.
===2021===
In 2021, Atradius argued to take up their responsibility as a global organization and work together with their stakeholders to simultaneously maximize their sustainable social value, and minimize their negative impacts o social and environmental matters resulting from their activities.<ref name=":0" /> According to them, it is their objective to do this in collaboration with their customers, in a transparent and ethical manner that allows both parties to grow sustainably. They argue to be persistently engaged in improving and promoting the creation of sustainable products and services that contribute to environmental protection. They expect their suppliers to do the same. Within their ''Atradius culture'', a key building block is the encouragement of efficient and responsible use of resources.
Additionally, Atradius has subscribed to the ten principles of the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC). Each year they provide an update on the progress they have made through for instance their ''Communication on Progress'' reports. They have also subscribed to the Dutch government’s biannual Transparency Benchmark study of the 200 largest companies in the Netherlands. Atradius was awarded 9th place for clarity in ESG-reporting. Important to note however is that this report predominantly centers on a company's transparency, and not specifically their environmental achievements.<ref>Ministerie van Economische Zaken en Klimaat. ''Transparantiebenchmark 2021: De Kristal 2021.'' Retrieved on April 29th 2022. https://www.transparantiebenchmark.nl/sites/transparantiebenchmark.nl/files/afbeeldingen/juryrapport_transparantiebenchmark_2021.pdf</ref> Additionally, when factchecking their position, it becomes clear that due to Atradius' international nature, they got rated separately from the 200+ Dutch companies.<ref>Ministerie van Economische Zaken en Klimaat. ''Transparantiebenchmark 2021: De Kristal 2021,'' p. 19, retrieved on April 29th 2022. https://www.transparantiebenchmark.nl/sites/transparantiebenchmark.nl/files/afbeeldingen/juryrapport_transparantiebenchmark_2021.pdf</ref> This means that per criterium Atradius themselves got to indicate themselves whether or not they met the criteria demands. Upon further inspection, it appears that they failed to provide any data on their diversity standards. It is also unclear whether Atradius would still have landed the 9th position if they had been rated similarly to Dutch companies.


Citation from the Annual Report 2020:
They have also had the quality of their sustainability management system measured by EcoVadis (Business Sustainability Rating Agent, Barcelona). Their policies, actions and results were assessed on 21 sustainability criteria, ranging from environment, labor and human rights, to ethics and sustainable procurement. The resulting scorecard puts Atradius in the upper half of all rated companies. Atradius fails to expand on the specificities of their rating and their precise spot, nor does EcoVadis provide this information. EcoVadis has shown indeed that the Finance, Legal and Consulting sector, to which Atradius belongs, has managed to make great leaps of improvement regarding their environmental commitments. Whether that goes for Atradius specifically however is unclear.<ref>EcoVadis. ''Business Sustainability Risk and Performance Index 2021: Insights from Global Supply Chain Ratings,'' p. 29, retrieved on April 29th 2022. https://www.google.nl/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwi66Mujzbn3AhVyg_0HHf0ODnYQFnoECAMQAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fresources.ecovadis.com%2Fsustainability-impact%2Fbusiness-sustainability-risk-performance-index-2021&usg=AOvVaw0cqsMpxhhSWQNolRIiYbiz</ref>


In 2020, we also established the Group Sustainability Committee to guide and support our ambitions on a senior level. The Sustainability Committee has consulting and decision-making duties in relation to the development of sustainability and embedding it in the group’s strategy.  
===Future ambitions===
The Sustainability Master Plan goals are:
Atradius' ESG Sustainability Policy is closely aligned with the ESG Sustainability Plan of Grupo Catalana Occidente (GCO), their parent company. Some key areas worth mentioning are their efforts in dealing with climate change and sustainability, human rights and diversity. All relevant units in Atradius and GCO are brought together to contribute to their ESG ambitions, which generated the creation of a three-year Master Plan (2020-2023). The progress they have made so far, especially around our ESG programs, practices and policies, has been recognized by Sustainalytics, a Global leader in ESG research with almost 30 years of experience around sustainability. As of 2021, GCO's rating improved significantly. As of now, it ranks 14th out of all the 296 insurance companies evaluated.<ref>Sustainalytics. ''Company ESG Risk Ratings: Grupo Catalana Occidente SA,'' retrieved on April 28th 2022. https://www.sustainalytics.com/esg-rating/grupo-catalana-occidente-sa/1008755198</ref>
# Offer a common working framework in the sustainability area for the entities that are part of Grupo Catalana Occidente, including Atradius.
 
# Establish a work agenda to continue to promote sustainability for the period 2020-2023 and define responsibilities.
===Sustainability Master Plan===
A few examples of ESG Sustainability initiatives that Atradius has undertaken are:
 
# creation of a ‘Group HR Policy’ and a ‘Group Human Rights Policy’,  
The Sustainability Master Plan is the main tool through which Grupo Catalana Occidente develops and implements its sustainability strategy. A new Sustainability Master Plan for the 2021-2023 period has been updated on the basis of a materiality study carried out in 2020.
# the Corporate Social Responsibility Tribe to increase awareness within the organisation through engagement and webinars,  
 
# an investigation of whether there is a need/demand from our customers for a ‘sustainable’ product.
Grupo Catalana Occidente supports the Paris Agreement and is working to be an active part of the climate change solution. To do this, it focuses its strategy on gradually reducing its Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions.
 
In 2021, the Group has joined the Net-Zero Insurance Alliance (NZIA), which aims to achieve neutral greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 and thus contributes to limiting the global temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, in the year 2100. To achieve this commitment, Grupo Catalana Occidente will establish gradual, science-based intermediate targets that will allow it to contribute to climate neutrality and balance scientific ambition, risk profiles and the world economy’s decarbonization trends as well as possible. It will also report annually on the progress achieved in relation to the targets adopted.<ref>[https://www.grupocatalanaoccidente.com/eng/non-financial-information/reports Sustainability Report 2021 pp. 41-46]</ref> However, one could argue that giving yourself until 2100 to fully transition is not enough. Indeed, according to NASA, without any major actions taken now to reduce GHG emissions, global temperature is on track to rise by 2.5°C to 4.5°C by 2100.<ref>NASA. ''Is it too late to prevent climate change?'' n.d., accessed on April 29th 2022. https://climate.nasa.gov/faq/16/is-it-too-late-to-prevent-climate-change/#:~:text=Without%20major%20action%20to%20reduce,worst%20effects%20of%20climate%20change.</ref>
 
Additionally, in Atradius' 2021 Annual Report, no mention is made of the Sustainability Master Plan.
 
==== NewClimate Institute (NCI) report ====
Atradius scores very low on transparency and very low on integrity.<ref>NewClimate Institute. (2022). Evaluating corporate target setting in the Netherlands. Retrieved from <nowiki>https://milieudefensie.nl/actueel/onderzoek-naar-de-klimaatplannen-van-29-grote-vervuilers</nowiki></ref>
 
Despite the fact that its shareholder Grupo Catalana Occidente (GCO) has developed a, although lacking in pace and scope, sustainability plan, Atradius itself has not made any emissions reduction pledges. It is also unclear to what extent these parent company policies apply to Atradius. Nor has Atradius itself disclosed any information on their financed emissions amount, which is expected to make up most of their emissions portfolio. As a result, it scores significantly low on transparency.
 
Atradius has reported on the emissions level for its own business operations, but has made no concrete plans to decrease these. Nor has Atradius reported any information on how it will take responsibility for its emissions, neither by climate contributions or offsetting. Indeed, all it has done is subscribe to the 10 principles of the UN Global Compact, without providing any details on the targets it will set to comply with these. Neither Atradius nor its parent company GCO have published an exclusion list, which could aid a company in the decision-making process for investment choices and consequently help it meet the ESG criteria.
 
Atradius Dutch State Business (DSB), a subsidiary of the Atradius Group and the Netherlands' official credit insurance agency argues that it assesses insurance conditions and classifies it as green in the case of it being favorable. However, fossil fuel related transactions have been granted this green label.
 
== Due Diligence ==
 
=== Due Diligence ===
 
====Atradius DSB potentially finances tax havens====
According to a 2013 report published by Both ENDS, a Dutch environmental protection agency, Atradius DSB regularly involve parties registered in tax havens. As a result, these multi-national enterprises (MNE's) were able to adopt aggressive tax avoidance positions that undermine the ability of countries to effectively collect tax.<ref>Both ENDS. <i>Cover for what: Atradius Dutch State Business' support for transactions via tax havens</i>, published on November 2013, and retrieved on April 25th 2022. https://www.bothends.org/uploaded_files/document/Cover_for_what.pdf</ref>
 
Between 2002 and 2012, Atradius DSB underwrote a number of transactions with a higher risk of money laundering, tax avoidance and/or evasion, and a lack of transparency and accountability.<ref>Both ENDS. <i>Cover for what: Atradius Dutch State Business' support for transactions via tax havens</i>, p. 9, published on November 2013, and retrieved on April 25th 2022. https://www.bothends.org/uploaded_files/document/Cover_for_what.pdf</ref> Three case studies displayed the fact that Atradius DSB has indeed i) provided cover for a company facing allegations of tax evasion, ii) provided cover for Dutch companies registered abroad ad iii) provided cover for beneficial owners in tax havens.<ref>Both ENDS. <i>Cover for what: Atradius Dutch State Business' support for transactions via tax havens</i>, p. 14, published on November 2013, and retrieved on April 25th 2022. https://www.bothends.org/uploaded_files/document/Cover_for_what.pdf</ref>


In a follow-up report, published in 2015, BOTH Ends once more established that Atradius DSB continues to engage in the previously criticized practices. As of that moment, Atradius DSB failed to introduce effective screening to exclude export transactions that have a high probability of including tax evasion and money laundering from its insurance services.<ref>Both ENDS. <i>Shady dealings: How Atradius Dutch State Business fails to adequately screen the businesses it supports</i>, p. 23, retrieved on April 25th 2022. https://www.bothends.org/uploaded_files/document/Shady_dealings_online.pdf</ref>
====Atradius DSB finances Russian oligarch Gennadi Timtsjenko====
Gennadi Timtsjenko is a Russian oligarch and a close friend of Putin's. According to research conducted by Platform Investico and published by ''Trouw'' and ''De Groene Amsterdammer'' Atradius financed multiple companies who collaborates with Gennadi Timtsjenko.<ref>Daphné Dupont-Nivet, Emiel Woutersen and Wendelmoet Boersema. <i>Nederland verzekerde deals tussen ondernemers en vertrouwelingen van Poetin</i>, published on March 29th 2022, and accessed on April 25th 2022. https://www.trouw.nl/buitenland/nederland-verzekerde-deals-tussen-ondernemers-en-vertrouwelingen-van-poetin~b9ad131f/</ref> Between 2014 and 2020 the amount of money in question is a total of 30 million. Experts mainly criticize Atradius' actions because of the fact that Gennadi has been on the American sanction list since 2014. It is thus quite questionable for the Dutch government to have continued funding such projects. According to Joseph Wilde-Ramsing, senior researcher at SOMO, these actions go against the anti-corruption guidelines that Atradius is supposed to follow.<ref>Nederlandse Overheid. <i>OESO richtlijnen hoofdstuk 7: bestrijding van corriptie, omkopingsverzoeken en afpersing</i>, accessed on April 25th 2022. https://www.oesorichtlijnen.nl/oeso-richtlijnen/corruptiebestrijding</ref><ref>Daphné Dupont-Nivet and Emiel Woutersen. <i><nowiki/>'De overheid had principiëler moeten zijn'</i>, published on March 30th 2022, and accessed on April 25th 2022. https://www.groene.nl/artikel/de-overheid-had-principieler-moeten-zijn</ref>


=====2021=====
'''Atradius DSB was associated with human rights violations and possibly corruption in Uganda'''
The Annual Report 2021, page 48, describes their environmental responsibility as follows:
As a worldwide operating company, we are aware of our responsibility to do business in a way that is ethically and environmentally sound. Environmental, Social and Governance topics are more important than ever, as the urgency of taking care of our planet for future generations and ourselves has further grown. We take up our responsibility as a global organisation. We work together with our stakeholders, with a goal of maximising the sustainable social value and minimising the negative impacts on social and environmental matters arising from our activities.  Environmental, Social and Governance Sustainability is embedded in our culture and a key driver in our day-to-day operations. It is our objective to do this jointly with our customers in a transparent and ethical manner, allowing both parties to grow sustainably. We place particular emphasis on the identification of risks and opportunities related to ESG parameters and criteria and embed them in our underwriting strategy. We are persistently improving and promoting the development of sustainable products and services that contribute to protection of the environment. We expect the same approach by our suppliers, which is hard-coded in our procurement policy. Within the Atradius culture, a key building block is the encouragement of efficient and responsible use of resources, as well as behaviour supporting its responsible use.


And on page 49:
The International Consortium of Journalists (ICIJ) got hold of the administration of ex-presidents daughter Isabel dos Santos and published stories about corruption under the name 'Luanda Leaks'. Atradius DSB insured a sum of 400 million dollar that ING loaned to the state of Angola to finance a project for urban development in the capital Luanda. The Dutch company Van Oord worked together with Isabel dos Santos on this project.  
To connect with the international ESG standards in our commitments and ambitions, we have subscribed to the '''ten principles of the United Nations Global Compact''' (UNGC) on human rights, labour conditions, the environment and anti-corruption. Every year we provide an update on the progress we have made. We provide transparency about our ESG-commitments via various channels. In 2021, we subscribed the Atradius Group to the Dutch government’s biannual Transparency Benchmark study of the 200 largest companies in the Netherlands. Atradius was awarded 9th place for clarity in ESG-reporting. We also had the quality of our sustainability management system measured by EcoVadis (Business Sustainability Rating Agent, Barcelona). Our policies, actions and results were assessed on 21 sustainability criteria, ranging from environment, labour and human rights, to ethics and sustainable procurement. The resulting scorecard puts Atradius in the upper half of all rated companies.


=====Our ambitions for the future=====
But according to Dutch newspaper Trouw, 3.000 families were violently evicted from their homes for the project. People were first deprived of food and water for a week, and then they were evicted using tear gas and hot water canons. Many of them ended up living on the streets, without compensation by the state. The newspaper writes that experts criticize Van Oord, ING and Atradius DSB for a lack of investigation into these evictions and for doing business with Isabel dos Santos without being cautious, as she has been associated with corruption scandals for years.<ref>https://www.trouw.nl/economie/duizenden-families-in-angola-verjaagd-voor-project-van-nederlandse-bedrijven~b59a6a27/</ref>
'''The ESG Sustainability Policy of Atradius is closely aligned with the ESG Sustainability Plan of GCO''', our parent company. Key areas to be mentioned are our efforts in dealing with climate change and sustainability, human rights and diversity. All relevant units in Atradius and GCO are brought together to contribute to our ESG ambitions, providing a scope and ambition that has been generated in the form of a three-year Master Plan (2020-2023). The progress we have made, especially around our ESG programs, practices and policies, has been recognised by Sustainalytics, a Global leader in ESG research with almost 30 years of experience around sustainability, which has in December 2021 significantly improved GCO’s ESG rating. Grupo Catalana Occidente S.A. is now 12th out of 300 insurance companies evaluated.


===Grupo Catalana Occidente===  
===Scandals and Controversies===


The Sustainability Master Plan is the main tool through which Grupo Catalana Occidente develops and implements its sustainability strategy. A new Sustainability Master Plan for the 2021-2023 period has been updated on the basis of a materiality study carried out in 2020.
====Atradius DSB finances fossil fuels in Africa====


Grupo Catalana Occidente supports the Paris Agreement and is working to be an active part of the climate change solution. To do this, it focuses its strategy on gradually reducing its greenhouse gas emissions.
Despite the climate crisis already disproportionately affecting African countries, the continent is host to numerous fossil fuel developments. In short, actions taken by commercial banks, development finance institutions and Expert Credit Agencies (ECA's), amongst which Atradius DSB belongs, allow the fossil fuel industry to grow. As a result, there is a growing concern that African countries are ''locked out of a Just Transition''.<ref>Milieudefensie. <i>Report: Locked out of a Just transition: fossil fuel financing in Africa</i>, published on March 3rd 2022, and retrieved on April 25th 2022. https://en.milieudefensie.nl/news/07-md-banktrack-fossil-fuels-africa-rpt-hr.pdf</ref> Focusing on the fossil fuel industry instead of centering on green energy undermines the enormous potential of Africa's renewables.  


In 2021, the Group has joined the Net-Zero Insurance Alliance (NZIA), which aims to achieve neutral greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 and thus contribute to limiting the global temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, in the year 2100. To achieve this commitment, Grupo Catalana Occidente will establish gradual, science-based intermediate targets that will allow it to contribute to climate neutrality and balance scientific ambition, risk profiles and the world economy’s decarbonisation trends as well as possible. It will also report annually on the progress achieved in relation to the targets adopted.<ref>[https://www.grupocatalanaoccidente.com/eng/non-financial-information/reports Sustainability Report 2021 pp. 41-46]</ref>
Atradius was amongst the nine Export Credit Agencies (ECAs) backing fossil fuel projects. By providing the guarantee to repay the investment in case it fails, it allows companies to operate in 'risky' circumstances, as is the case with the fossil fuel industry. In total, Atradius covered 1,065 million US dollars worth of investments.<ref>Isabelle Geuskes and Henrieke Butijn, <i>Locked out of a Just Transition: Fossil Fuel Financing in Africa</i>, p. 25, published March 2022, and retrieved April 25th 2022. https://en.milieudefensie.nl/news/07-md-banktrack-fossil-fuels-africa-rpt-hr.pdf</ref>


In 2020, Atradius DSB is suspected to have committed itself to insure an oil and fossil project in Mozambique.<ref>Climate Home News. ''Gas curse: Mozambique's multi-billion dollar gamble on LNG.'' Published on July 10th 2020, and accessed on May 5th 2022. https://www.climatechangenews.com/2020/07/10/gas-curse-mozambiques-multi-billion-dollar-gamble-lng/</ref> Despite all the negative consequences this will have on the local population, such as the forced removal from local inhabitants, the deprivation of fisherman from their jobs and the environmental impacts of increased CO2 emissions,<ref>Milieudefensie. ''Hoe Nederland Mozambique verslaafd maakt aan fossiele energie.'' n.d., accessed on May 5th 2022. https://milieudefensie.nl/doe-mee/hoe-nederland-mozambique-verslaafd-maakt-aan-fossiele-energie</ref> both the Dutch government and Atradius have committed to funding the project regardless.<ref>Hans Nauta. ''Nederland blijft toch exportkredieten leveren voor fossiele projecten.'' Trouw. Published on November 5th 2021, and accessed on May 5th 2022. https://www.trouw.nl/economie/nederland-blijft-toch-exportkredieten-leveren-voor-fossiele-projecten~be286c00a/</ref>


=== Due Diligence ===
During COP26, the Netherlands signed a treaty saying that starting 2022, "projects related to fossil energy will no longer be insured through government-backed Export Credit Agencies" such as Atradius.<ref>Planbureau voor de Leefomgeving. ''Uitfasering steun exportkredietverzekering voor fossiele projecten,'' published on June 1st 2022 (June 13th 2022) https://www.pbl.nl/publicaties/uitfasering-steun-exportkredietverzekering-voor-fossiele-projecten-mogelijke-effecten-op-de-arbeidsmarkt</ref>
Keep the broader context in mind. Is the company integer when it comes to deforestation, palm oil, biodiversity, human rights etc etc? Be critical in the sources used here.


== Conclusion ==
== Conclusion ==


Although there are no SMART objectives in the annual report, and no reference is made to the Paris 2015 climate agreement, Atradius has itself assessed externally in the field of sustainability.  
Although there are no SMART objectives in the annual report, and no reference is made to the Paris 2015 climate agreement, Atradius has itself assessed externally in the field of sustainability.  
Furthermore, Atradius cooperates with the sustainability policy of the parent company GCO. The Master Plan (2020-2023) of GCO can probably be considered as a climate plan. The Master Plan refers to the Paris-2015 agreement and sets a goal to be carbonneutral by 2050, in order to obtain the max. + 1,5 degree objective. In 2021, the GCO-group for the first time tried to establish their scope-3 pollution.


'''Atradius cooperates with the sustainability policy of the parent company GCO. The Master Plan (2020-2023) of GCO can probably be considered as a climate plan. The Master Plan refers to the Paris-2015 agreement and sets a goal to be carbonneutral by 2050, in order to obtain the max. + 1,5 degree objective. In 2021, the GCO-group for the first time tried to establish their scope-3 pollution.'''
Furthermore, Atradius cooperates with the sustainability policy of the parent company GCO. The Master Plan (2020-2023) of GCO can probably be considered as a climate plan. The Master Plan refers to the Paris-2015 agreement and sets a goal to be carbon-neutral by 2050, in order to obtain the max. + 1,5 degree objective. In 2021, the GCO-group tried to establish their scope-3 pollution for the first time. Atradius itself remains passive regarding the provision of its full emissions level. On top of that, it made no mention of the Master Plan in its 2021 report. Additionally, as the due diligence and scandals section makes clear, Atradius has a long way to go in becoming greener and more sustainable in its actions.


==  References ==
==  References ==

Latest revision as of 12:23, 26 July 2022

Company name
Bedrijf Logo
Quick Facts
TypePublic
sectorFinancial Services
Headquarters (Benelux Organization)Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Year of Origin2004
Emissions (of parent organisation GCO)3.5 Megatons of CO2 (2020)
NCI assessmentVery low
Total RevenueEUR 2.15 billion (2021)
Stock Exchangeshares are not traded
Key People
  • David Capdevila(CEO)
  • Claus Gramlich-Eicher (CFO)
  • Xavier Freixes (Chairman)
Number of Employees3,647
Subsidiaries
  • Atradius Dutch State Business;
  • Atradius Insurance Holding N.V.;
  • Atradius Collections B.V.;
  • Atradius Credit Insurance N.V.;
  • Atradius Credit Management Services B.V.;
  • Atradius Information Services B.V.[1]

Atradius N.V. provides trade credit insurance, surety and collections services worldwide.[2] It is a subsidiary of its parent organization Grupo Catalana Occidente (GCO) for whom it enables credit insurance. Today, the Atradius Group is a collection of a multitude of international trade insurers around the world. Despite being owned by GCO, it is still headquartered in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Additionally, Atradius DSB is the official Export Credit Agency in the Netherlands.[3] In 2021 the company had a revenue of 2.15 billion euros.[4] The company employs 3,647 people.[5]

Company Structure

Despite being originally founded in the Netherlands to improve trade conditions for Dutch businesses, Atradius is currently a collection of multiple international insurers. After merging with the Spanish insurers Crédito y Caución and Grupo Catalana Occidente, Atradius gained an additional foothold in the Spanish speaking world. These aforementioned groups own all of Atradius' shares. Hence, Atradius' shares are not traded on a stock exchange.

Management Board

Management Board
Name Function
David Capdevila CEO
Andreas Tesch Market Officer
Christian van Lint Risk Officer
Claus Gramlich-Eicher CFO
Marc Henstridge Insurance Operations

The total remuneration in 2020 amounted to 3.3 million euros. There were no further details available on the division of this amount amongst the board members.

In 2021, the remunerations increased to 3.775 million euro, divided amongst just 5 members.[6]

Supervisory Board

Supervisory Board
Name Function
Xavier Freixes Chairman
Francisco Arregui Vice-Chairman
Désirée van Gorp Member
Juan Ignacio Guerrero Member
Carlos Halpern Member
John Hourican Member
Bernd H. Meyer Member
Hugo Serra Member
José María Sunyer Member

Amongst the nine of them, the Supervisory Board members received a total of 585 thousand euros in short-term employee benefits, which includes salaries, housing, social security, medical expenses, lease cars, and more.[7] Unlike the management board members, the supervisory board does not receive long-term employee benefits or post-term employee benefits.

Accountant

The General Meeting appointed PricewaterhouseCoopers Accountants N.V. as the Company’s external auditor for the financial year of 2021.[8] In the three-paged audit report, the accountant makes no mention of the climate crisis as a potential risk for Atradius' long-term existence.[9]

Main Activities

Atradius provides trade credit insurance, surety and collections services worldwide through a presence in more than 50 countries around the globe.

On top of that, Atradius DSB (Dutch State Business) is the official Export Credit Agency in the Netherlands. This entails that Atradius is responsible for aiding Dutch companies with their export contract insurance. According to Atradius themselves, they "provide these coverages on behalf of the Dutch State.[10] Hence, they work closely together with the Dutch government. Especially during the Corona-crisis, during which the Dutch export of capital goods and services was in jeopardy, Atradius DSB collaborated with the Dutch government to set up a secure package of measurements.

Government

Atradius did not receive NOW support from the Dutch government.[11] The company does not have royal status.[12] However, Atradius has worked closely together with the Dutch government since 1932 to provide insurance to Dutch companies.

Shareholdings[13]

  • Grupo Catalana Occidente, S.A. (35.77%)
  • Grupo Compañía Española de Crédito y Caución, S.L. (64.23%)

Paris Agreement until Today

2016

According to Atradius themselves, their environmental impact is relatively small compared to other industries. Despite that, they state that they are looking at opportunities to make efficient and sustainable use of natural resources, as is expected by their customers, stakeholders, and others.[14] As a result, they have introduced a multitude of initiatives concerning energy use, recycling and waste disposal, transportation and procurement. Additionally, they are a member of the United Nationals Global Compact (UNGC), whose principles they strive to commit to. According to a research study conducted by EcoVadis, companies committed to the UN Global Compact principles have on average better sustainability performance.[15]. The published results put Atradius in the upper half of all rated companies.[16]

2020

In 2020, Atradius changed the title of the Corporate Social Responsibility chapter to Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Sustainability to reflect their renewed ambition. Additionally, they established the Group Sustainability Committee, whose job it is to consult and decision-make regarding sustainability duties.[17]

Their Sustainability Master Plan goals were, amongst others, to:

  1. Offer a common working framework in the sustainability area for the entities that are part of Grupo Catalana Occidente, including Atradius;
  2. Establish a work agenda to continue to promote sustainability for the period 2020-2023 and define responsibilities.

A few examples of ESG Sustainability initiatives that Atradius has undertaken are the creation of a ‘Group HR Policy’ and a ‘Group Human Rights Policy’, the Corporate Social Responsibility Tribe to increase awareness within the organization through engagement and webinars, and an investigation of whether there is a need/demand from our customers for a ‘sustainable’ product.

In their annual report, Atradius failed to include their entire CO2 footprint. Instead, they only focused on the CO2 output of energy consumption of travel, both of which went down most likely as a direct result of the COVID-pandemic.[18] Additionally, Atradius puts a lot of focus on investigating the demand from their costumers (businesses out to trade with international countries/companies and make money), as opposed to aiding their costumers in becoming greener.

Financial Results since 2015

Financial situation
Year Revenue [19] Profit [20] Dividend
2015 1.76 billion EUR 0.17 billion EUR 64.9 million EUR
2016 1.71 billion EUR 0.21 billion EUR 71.2 million EUR
2017 1.83 billion EUR 0.18 billion EUR 76.7 million EUR
2018 1.89 billion EUR 0.20 billion EUR 83.9 million EUR
2019 2.01 billion EUR 0.22 billion EUR 91.8 million EUR
2020 1.97 billion EUR 0.04 billion EUR 102.9 million EUR
2021 2.15 billion EUR 0.24 billion EUR 91 million EUR

Current Emissions

Environmental Key Performance Indicators[21]
Item 2019 2020 2021
Electricity usage kWh 9.911.723 6.911.448 7.576.044
Gas usage m^3 401.971 281.909 302.454
Employee air travel km 15.050.653 2.321.249 815.182
Employee rail travel km 2.648.104 711.238 450.240
Company lease car travel 9.168.351 6.331.731 5.662.071
Tonnes CO2 of energy+travel 13.868 6.642 6.927
Waste (tonnes) 693,7 560,4 814

All items show a significant improvement. However, this could be largely related to the COVID-situation. They admitted this in their 2020 report by noting that "due to Covid-19 almost all figures were lower in 2020 than they would be normally".[22]

In 2021 there was an increase in the use of energy and a large increase in waste.

Emissions

There is insufficient information on the emissions level of Atradius, so these numbers are taken from its parent group GCO.

Total emissions tonnes of CO2 for the Grupo Catalana Occidente
Year Scope 1 Scope 2 Scope 3 Total
2020 134.57 tonnes of CO2 2,477.41 tonnes of CO2 Unknown Unknown
2021 119.10 tonnes of CO2 1,994.39 tonnes of CO2 1,432.61 tonnes of CO2 3,546.1 tonnes of CO2

In 2021, the scope-3 emissions were partly calculated. The numbers are totals for the GCO-group, not just for Atradius.[23] Scope 3 includes the categories of activities related to fuel and electricity, goods and services purchased and business trips (by train and by plane).[24] This excludes most scope 3 categories.

Climate Policy and Plans

In 2020, the Grupo Catalana Occidente established the Group Sustainability Committee to guide and support their environmental ambitions on a senior level.[17] The Sustainability Committee has consulting and decision-making duties in relation to the development of sustainability and embedding it in the group’s strategy. The Sustainability Master Plan goals are:

  1. Offer a common working framework in the sustainability area for the entities that are part of Grupo Catalana Occidente, including Atradius;
  2. Establish a work agenda to continue to promote sustainability for the period 2020-2023 and define responsibilities.

A few examples of ESG Sustainability initiatives that Atradius has undertaken are:

  1. The creation of a ‘Group HR Policy’ and a ‘Group Human Rights Policy’;
  2. The Corporate Social Responsibility Tribe to increase awareness within the organization through engagement and webinars;
  3. An investigation of whether there is a need/demand from our customers for a ‘sustainable’ product.

2021

In 2021, Atradius argued to take up their responsibility as a global organization and work together with their stakeholders to simultaneously maximize their sustainable social value, and minimize their negative impacts o social and environmental matters resulting from their activities.[16] According to them, it is their objective to do this in collaboration with their customers, in a transparent and ethical manner that allows both parties to grow sustainably. They argue to be persistently engaged in improving and promoting the creation of sustainable products and services that contribute to environmental protection. They expect their suppliers to do the same. Within their Atradius culture, a key building block is the encouragement of efficient and responsible use of resources.

Additionally, Atradius has subscribed to the ten principles of the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC). Each year they provide an update on the progress they have made through for instance their Communication on Progress reports. They have also subscribed to the Dutch government’s biannual Transparency Benchmark study of the 200 largest companies in the Netherlands. Atradius was awarded 9th place for clarity in ESG-reporting. Important to note however is that this report predominantly centers on a company's transparency, and not specifically their environmental achievements.[25] Additionally, when factchecking their position, it becomes clear that due to Atradius' international nature, they got rated separately from the 200+ Dutch companies.[26] This means that per criterium Atradius themselves got to indicate themselves whether or not they met the criteria demands. Upon further inspection, it appears that they failed to provide any data on their diversity standards. It is also unclear whether Atradius would still have landed the 9th position if they had been rated similarly to Dutch companies.

They have also had the quality of their sustainability management system measured by EcoVadis (Business Sustainability Rating Agent, Barcelona). Their policies, actions and results were assessed on 21 sustainability criteria, ranging from environment, labor and human rights, to ethics and sustainable procurement. The resulting scorecard puts Atradius in the upper half of all rated companies. Atradius fails to expand on the specificities of their rating and their precise spot, nor does EcoVadis provide this information. EcoVadis has shown indeed that the Finance, Legal and Consulting sector, to which Atradius belongs, has managed to make great leaps of improvement regarding their environmental commitments. Whether that goes for Atradius specifically however is unclear.[27]

Future ambitions

Atradius' ESG Sustainability Policy is closely aligned with the ESG Sustainability Plan of Grupo Catalana Occidente (GCO), their parent company. Some key areas worth mentioning are their efforts in dealing with climate change and sustainability, human rights and diversity. All relevant units in Atradius and GCO are brought together to contribute to their ESG ambitions, which generated the creation of a three-year Master Plan (2020-2023). The progress they have made so far, especially around our ESG programs, practices and policies, has been recognized by Sustainalytics, a Global leader in ESG research with almost 30 years of experience around sustainability. As of 2021, GCO's rating improved significantly. As of now, it ranks 14th out of all the 296 insurance companies evaluated.[28]

Sustainability Master Plan

The Sustainability Master Plan is the main tool through which Grupo Catalana Occidente develops and implements its sustainability strategy. A new Sustainability Master Plan for the 2021-2023 period has been updated on the basis of a materiality study carried out in 2020.

Grupo Catalana Occidente supports the Paris Agreement and is working to be an active part of the climate change solution. To do this, it focuses its strategy on gradually reducing its Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions.

In 2021, the Group has joined the Net-Zero Insurance Alliance (NZIA), which aims to achieve neutral greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 and thus contributes to limiting the global temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, in the year 2100. To achieve this commitment, Grupo Catalana Occidente will establish gradual, science-based intermediate targets that will allow it to contribute to climate neutrality and balance scientific ambition, risk profiles and the world economy’s decarbonization trends as well as possible. It will also report annually on the progress achieved in relation to the targets adopted.[29] However, one could argue that giving yourself until 2100 to fully transition is not enough. Indeed, according to NASA, without any major actions taken now to reduce GHG emissions, global temperature is on track to rise by 2.5°C to 4.5°C by 2100.[30]

Additionally, in Atradius' 2021 Annual Report, no mention is made of the Sustainability Master Plan.

NewClimate Institute (NCI) report

Atradius scores very low on transparency and very low on integrity.[31]

Despite the fact that its shareholder Grupo Catalana Occidente (GCO) has developed a, although lacking in pace and scope, sustainability plan, Atradius itself has not made any emissions reduction pledges. It is also unclear to what extent these parent company policies apply to Atradius. Nor has Atradius itself disclosed any information on their financed emissions amount, which is expected to make up most of their emissions portfolio. As a result, it scores significantly low on transparency.

Atradius has reported on the emissions level for its own business operations, but has made no concrete plans to decrease these. Nor has Atradius reported any information on how it will take responsibility for its emissions, neither by climate contributions or offsetting. Indeed, all it has done is subscribe to the 10 principles of the UN Global Compact, without providing any details on the targets it will set to comply with these. Neither Atradius nor its parent company GCO have published an exclusion list, which could aid a company in the decision-making process for investment choices and consequently help it meet the ESG criteria.

Atradius Dutch State Business (DSB), a subsidiary of the Atradius Group and the Netherlands' official credit insurance agency argues that it assesses insurance conditions and classifies it as green in the case of it being favorable. However, fossil fuel related transactions have been granted this green label.

Due Diligence

Due Diligence

Atradius DSB potentially finances tax havens

According to a 2013 report published by Both ENDS, a Dutch environmental protection agency, Atradius DSB regularly involve parties registered in tax havens. As a result, these multi-national enterprises (MNE's) were able to adopt aggressive tax avoidance positions that undermine the ability of countries to effectively collect tax.[32]

Between 2002 and 2012, Atradius DSB underwrote a number of transactions with a higher risk of money laundering, tax avoidance and/or evasion, and a lack of transparency and accountability.[33] Three case studies displayed the fact that Atradius DSB has indeed i) provided cover for a company facing allegations of tax evasion, ii) provided cover for Dutch companies registered abroad ad iii) provided cover for beneficial owners in tax havens.[34]

In a follow-up report, published in 2015, BOTH Ends once more established that Atradius DSB continues to engage in the previously criticized practices. As of that moment, Atradius DSB failed to introduce effective screening to exclude export transactions that have a high probability of including tax evasion and money laundering from its insurance services.[35]

Atradius DSB finances Russian oligarch Gennadi Timtsjenko

Gennadi Timtsjenko is a Russian oligarch and a close friend of Putin's. According to research conducted by Platform Investico and published by Trouw and De Groene Amsterdammer Atradius financed multiple companies who collaborates with Gennadi Timtsjenko.[36] Between 2014 and 2020 the amount of money in question is a total of 30 million. Experts mainly criticize Atradius' actions because of the fact that Gennadi has been on the American sanction list since 2014. It is thus quite questionable for the Dutch government to have continued funding such projects. According to Joseph Wilde-Ramsing, senior researcher at SOMO, these actions go against the anti-corruption guidelines that Atradius is supposed to follow.[37][38]

Atradius DSB was associated with human rights violations and possibly corruption in Uganda

The International Consortium of Journalists (ICIJ) got hold of the administration of ex-presidents daughter Isabel dos Santos and published stories about corruption under the name 'Luanda Leaks'. Atradius DSB insured a sum of 400 million dollar that ING loaned to the state of Angola to finance a project for urban development in the capital Luanda. The Dutch company Van Oord worked together with Isabel dos Santos on this project.

But according to Dutch newspaper Trouw, 3.000 families were violently evicted from their homes for the project. People were first deprived of food and water for a week, and then they were evicted using tear gas and hot water canons. Many of them ended up living on the streets, without compensation by the state. The newspaper writes that experts criticize Van Oord, ING and Atradius DSB for a lack of investigation into these evictions and for doing business with Isabel dos Santos without being cautious, as she has been associated with corruption scandals for years.[39]

Scandals and Controversies

Atradius DSB finances fossil fuels in Africa

Despite the climate crisis already disproportionately affecting African countries, the continent is host to numerous fossil fuel developments. In short, actions taken by commercial banks, development finance institutions and Expert Credit Agencies (ECA's), amongst which Atradius DSB belongs, allow the fossil fuel industry to grow. As a result, there is a growing concern that African countries are locked out of a Just Transition.[40] Focusing on the fossil fuel industry instead of centering on green energy undermines the enormous potential of Africa's renewables.

Atradius was amongst the nine Export Credit Agencies (ECAs) backing fossil fuel projects. By providing the guarantee to repay the investment in case it fails, it allows companies to operate in 'risky' circumstances, as is the case with the fossil fuel industry. In total, Atradius covered 1,065 million US dollars worth of investments.[41]

In 2020, Atradius DSB is suspected to have committed itself to insure an oil and fossil project in Mozambique.[42] Despite all the negative consequences this will have on the local population, such as the forced removal from local inhabitants, the deprivation of fisherman from their jobs and the environmental impacts of increased CO2 emissions,[43] both the Dutch government and Atradius have committed to funding the project regardless.[44]

During COP26, the Netherlands signed a treaty saying that starting 2022, "projects related to fossil energy will no longer be insured through government-backed Export Credit Agencies" such as Atradius.[45]

Conclusion

Although there are no SMART objectives in the annual report, and no reference is made to the Paris 2015 climate agreement, Atradius has itself assessed externally in the field of sustainability.

Furthermore, Atradius cooperates with the sustainability policy of the parent company GCO. The Master Plan (2020-2023) of GCO can probably be considered as a climate plan. The Master Plan refers to the Paris-2015 agreement and sets a goal to be carbon-neutral by 2050, in order to obtain the max. + 1,5 degree objective. In 2021, the GCO-group tried to establish their scope-3 pollution for the first time. Atradius itself remains passive regarding the provision of its full emissions level. On top of that, it made no mention of the Master Plan in its 2021 report. Additionally, as the due diligence and scandals section makes clear, Atradius has a long way to go in becoming greener and more sustainable in its actions.

References

  1. ↑ Atradius N.V. Embracing change: Annual Report 2021 Atradius N.V., p. 110, retrieved on April 28th 2022. https://atradius.nl/mkbzeker/annual-reports.html
  2. ↑ https://atradiuscollections.com/ca-en/about-us/mission-and-vision.html
  3. ↑ Atradius. Helping Dutch companies by insuring their export contract since 1932, accessed on April 25th 2022. https://atradiusdutchstatebusiness.nl/en/
  4. ↑ https://atradius.nl/mkbzeker/annual-reports.html
  5. ↑ https://atradius.nl/mkbzeker/annual-reports.html p138
  6. ↑ Atradius. Annual Report 2021, p. 139, retrieved on April 25th 2022. file:///C:/Users/aiden/Downloads/atradius-annual-report-2021.pdf
  7. ↑ Atradius. Annual Report 2021, p. 139, retrieved on April 25th 2022. file:///C:/Users/aiden/Downloads/atradius-annual-report-2021.pdf
  8. ↑ https://atradius.nl/mkbzeker/annual-reports.html p28
  9. ↑ Atradius Group. Annual Report 2021, pp. 154-156, retrieved on May 16th 2022. https://atradius.nl/mkbzeker/annual-reports.html
  10. ↑ Atradius. Helping Dutch companies by insuring their export contracts since 1932, accessed on April 25th 2022, https://atradiusdutchstatebusiness.nl/en/
  11. ↑ https://www.uwv.nl/overuwv/Images/uwv-register-now-vijfde-aanvraagperiode.pdf
  12. ↑ https://www.koninklijkhuis.nl/onderwerpen/onderscheidingen/predicaat-koninklijk/overzicht-predicaat-koninklijk
  13. ↑ https://atradius.nl/mkbzeker/annual-reports.html p22
  14. ↑ Atradius N.V. Leading the future: Annual Report 2016, p. 49. https://atradius.nl/artikel/jaarverslagen.html
  15. ↑ EcoVadis. Commitment vs. Practice: a Comparison of CSR Performance of the UN Global Compact Signatories and Non-Signatories, p. 7, published on March 2019 and retrieved on April 24th 2022. https://resources.ecovadis.com/sustainable-procurement/comparison-csr-performance-un-global-compact-signatories-non-signatories
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 Atradius N.V. Embracing change: Annual Report 2021, p. 49, retrieved on April 28th 2022. https://atradius.nl/artikel/jaarverslagen.html
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 Atradius. Annual Report 2020, retrieved on April 24th 2022. https://atradius.nl/artikel/jaarverslagen.html
  18. ↑ Atradius. Annual Report 2020, p. 54, retrieved on April 24th 2022. https://atradius.nl/artikel/jaarverslagen.html
  19. ↑ https://atradius.nl/mkbzeker/annual-reports.html p7
  20. ↑ https://atradius.nl/mkbzeker/annual-reports.html p7
  21. ↑ Atradius N.V. Annual Report 2021, p. 50, retrieved on April 28th 2022. https://atradius.nl/artikel/jaarverslagen.html
  22. ↑ Atradius N.V. Annual Report 2020, p. 54, retrieved on April 28th 2022. https://atradius.nl/artikel/jaarverslagen.html
  23. ↑ Catalana Occidente. Sustainability Report - Non-Financial Information Statement, p. 42, retrieved on April 28th 2022. https://www.grupocatalanaoccidente.com/eng/non-financial-information/reports
  24. ↑ Catalana Occidente. Sustainability Report - Non-Financial Information Statemet, p. 42, retrieved on April 28th 2022. https://www.grupocatalanaoccidente.com/eng/non-financial-information/reports
  25. ↑ Ministerie van Economische Zaken en Klimaat. Transparantiebenchmark 2021: De Kristal 2021. Retrieved on April 29th 2022. https://www.transparantiebenchmark.nl/sites/transparantiebenchmark.nl/files/afbeeldingen/juryrapport_transparantiebenchmark_2021.pdf
  26. ↑ Ministerie van Economische Zaken en Klimaat. Transparantiebenchmark 2021: De Kristal 2021, p. 19, retrieved on April 29th 2022. https://www.transparantiebenchmark.nl/sites/transparantiebenchmark.nl/files/afbeeldingen/juryrapport_transparantiebenchmark_2021.pdf
  27. ↑ EcoVadis. Business Sustainability Risk and Performance Index 2021: Insights from Global Supply Chain Ratings, p. 29, retrieved on April 29th 2022. https://www.google.nl/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwi66Mujzbn3AhVyg_0HHf0ODnYQFnoECAMQAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fresources.ecovadis.com%2Fsustainability-impact%2Fbusiness-sustainability-risk-performance-index-2021&usg=AOvVaw0cqsMpxhhSWQNolRIiYbiz
  28. ↑ Sustainalytics. Company ESG Risk Ratings: Grupo Catalana Occidente SA, retrieved on April 28th 2022. https://www.sustainalytics.com/esg-rating/grupo-catalana-occidente-sa/1008755198
  29. ↑ Sustainability Report 2021 pp. 41-46
  30. ↑ NASA. Is it too late to prevent climate change? n.d., accessed on April 29th 2022. https://climate.nasa.gov/faq/16/is-it-too-late-to-prevent-climate-change/#:~:text=Without%20major%20action%20to%20reduce,worst%20effects%20of%20climate%20change.
  31. ↑ NewClimate Institute. (2022). Evaluating corporate target setting in the Netherlands. Retrieved from https://milieudefensie.nl/actueel/onderzoek-naar-de-klimaatplannen-van-29-grote-vervuilers
  32. ↑ Both ENDS. Cover for what: Atradius Dutch State Business' support for transactions via tax havens, published on November 2013, and retrieved on April 25th 2022. https://www.bothends.org/uploaded_files/document/Cover_for_what.pdf
  33. ↑ Both ENDS. Cover for what: Atradius Dutch State Business' support for transactions via tax havens, p. 9, published on November 2013, and retrieved on April 25th 2022. https://www.bothends.org/uploaded_files/document/Cover_for_what.pdf
  34. ↑ Both ENDS. Cover for what: Atradius Dutch State Business' support for transactions via tax havens, p. 14, published on November 2013, and retrieved on April 25th 2022. https://www.bothends.org/uploaded_files/document/Cover_for_what.pdf
  35. ↑ Both ENDS. Shady dealings: How Atradius Dutch State Business fails to adequately screen the businesses it supports, p. 23, retrieved on April 25th 2022. https://www.bothends.org/uploaded_files/document/Shady_dealings_online.pdf
  36. ↑ Daphné Dupont-Nivet, Emiel Woutersen and Wendelmoet Boersema. Nederland verzekerde deals tussen ondernemers en vertrouwelingen van Poetin, published on March 29th 2022, and accessed on April 25th 2022. https://www.trouw.nl/buitenland/nederland-verzekerde-deals-tussen-ondernemers-en-vertrouwelingen-van-poetin~b9ad131f/
  37. ↑ Nederlandse Overheid. OESO richtlijnen hoofdstuk 7: bestrijding van corriptie, omkopingsverzoeken en afpersing, accessed on April 25th 2022. https://www.oesorichtlijnen.nl/oeso-richtlijnen/corruptiebestrijding
  38. ↑ Daphné Dupont-Nivet and Emiel Woutersen. 'De overheid had principiëler moeten zijn', published on March 30th 2022, and accessed on April 25th 2022. https://www.groene.nl/artikel/de-overheid-had-principieler-moeten-zijn
  39. ↑ https://www.trouw.nl/economie/duizenden-families-in-angola-verjaagd-voor-project-van-nederlandse-bedrijven~b59a6a27/
  40. ↑ Milieudefensie. Report: Locked out of a Just transition: fossil fuel financing in Africa, published on March 3rd 2022, and retrieved on April 25th 2022. https://en.milieudefensie.nl/news/07-md-banktrack-fossil-fuels-africa-rpt-hr.pdf
  41. ↑ Isabelle Geuskes and Henrieke Butijn, Locked out of a Just Transition: Fossil Fuel Financing in Africa, p. 25, published March 2022, and retrieved April 25th 2022. https://en.milieudefensie.nl/news/07-md-banktrack-fossil-fuels-africa-rpt-hr.pdf
  42. ↑ Climate Home News. Gas curse: Mozambique's multi-billion dollar gamble on LNG. Published on July 10th 2020, and accessed on May 5th 2022. https://www.climatechangenews.com/2020/07/10/gas-curse-mozambiques-multi-billion-dollar-gamble-lng/
  43. ↑ Milieudefensie. Hoe Nederland Mozambique verslaafd maakt aan fossiele energie. n.d., accessed on May 5th 2022. https://milieudefensie.nl/doe-mee/hoe-nederland-mozambique-verslaafd-maakt-aan-fossiele-energie
  44. ↑ Hans Nauta. Nederland blijft toch exportkredieten leveren voor fossiele projecten. Trouw. Published on November 5th 2021, and accessed on May 5th 2022. https://www.trouw.nl/economie/nederland-blijft-toch-exportkredieten-leveren-voor-fossiele-projecten~be286c00a/
  45. ↑ Planbureau voor de Leefomgeving. Uitfasering steun exportkredietverzekering voor fossiele projecten, published on June 1st 2022 (June 13th 2022) https://www.pbl.nl/publicaties/uitfasering-steun-exportkredietverzekering-voor-fossiele-projecten-mogelijke-effecten-op-de-arbeidsmarkt
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