News

FMO signs for climate neutral management at "Climate Event" with Al Gore

Aalsmeer, The Netherlands - October 15, 2008

In the presence of Al Gore and the Netherlands Minister of the Environment and Spatial Planning and former member of FMOs Supervisory Board Jacqueline Cramer, FMO and twelve other Dutch organizations signed a climate agreement.

The agreement was called into being with the purpose of achieving complete climate neutral management. The agreement was signed together with a variety of other companies, including PricewaterhouseCoopers, Boer & Croon, Cordaid, Triodos Bank and other leading companies.

For FMO it is both self-evident and essential to operate in a climate neutral sense. "We practice what we preach," says Nanno Kleiterp, FMO's CEO, "both our clients in emerging markets and FMO itself have a responsibility to make a substantial contribution to sustainable development." FMO has already been operating in a climate neutral way since 2004, when it entered its office building at the Anna van Saksenlaan in The Hague. FMO sees the signing of this document as an important signal to other companies to follow suit.

A 5 minute video report with reactions from the participant organizations is available online: www.climateneutralgroup.nl  
A report of Al Gore's speech is available at the website of NRC Handelsblad (Dutch only).

The Netherlands Development Finance Company (FMO) is the international development bank of the Netherlands. FMO invests risk capital in companies and financial institutions in developing countries. FMO's investment portfolio is € 3.4 billion and FMO is one of the largest bilateral development banks worldwide. Thanks in part to its relationship with the Dutch government, FMO is able to take risks which commercial financiers are not - or not yet - prepared to take. FMO's mission: to create flourishing enterprises, which can serve as engines of sustainable growth in their countries.