Yale-WWF_final

Few Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) reports by Chinese banks mention their overseasbranches and international project financing. This might be because of the following reasons.First, China’s financial market used to be disconnected from the global market. Therefore,most banks and funds do not have a large exposure globally, and relevant financial instrumentsand policies are designed in a Chinese context. Secondly, Socially Responsible Investment (SRI)and even CSR are new to Chinese companies and it is hard for them to have a global SRI/CSRfocus at such an early stage. This is however changing as more Chinese banks and investorsget involved in other countries. Some companies, as well as the Chinese government, haveexperienced pressures from international society and global stakeholders. They will be morecareful about their overseas investments in terms of social and environmental impacts in thenear future. This provides good opportunities for global stakeholders to engage Chinesecompanies.Overseas investment is always subject to rigorous examination at local level, includingassessment of its environmental and social impact. This is the inevitable result of internationalcapital flows. As the overseas investment of Chinese banks grows, the environmental risks andcontroversies they encounter will also increase. If ensuring the right to enjoy natural resourcesis a priority concern for the Chinese government, then protecting its international reputationis also extremely important. While Chinese banking institutions may disdain the appeals fromthe international community, in the end they will realize that adopting a lending policy thattakes into account world class protection of the natural and social environment is in their bestinterests.(2) Key Industrial PeersTwo Chinese mining companies have been selecting into the Fortune 500 Companies Listsince 2008, one is China Minmetals Corporation (CMC), ranked 133 in the year of 2014; theother is Aluminum Corporation of China (Chinalco), the second largest mining company inChina, ranked 227 in the year of 2014. 23 Such two giant leading companies have big impactsto China’s mining industrial standards development, and both have deeply engaged into themining industry in Peru.Aluminum Corporation of China (Chinalco)One similar overseas mining investment case happened to Chinese companies in Peru is theToromocho Project, carried out by the Minera Chinalco Perú S.A. (“MCP”), a wholly-ownedsubsidiary of the Aluminum Corporation of China (hereinafter referred to as “Chinalco”), asshown in Fig. 4. Chinalco is a multinational aluminum company headquartered in Beijing,People's Republic of China. It is the world's second-largest alumina producer (and the onlyproducer in China) and third-largest primary aluminum producer (and the largest producer inChina). Chinalco is principally engaged in the extraction of aluminum oxide, electrolysis ofvirgin aluminum and the processing and production of aluminum as well as traded trading andengineering and technical services. 24 The Toromocho Project is also China's largest overseas23http://www.fortunechina.com/fortune500/c/2014-07/07/content_212535.htm24http://www.chalco.com.cn/73