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Do you feel the Earth is getting trashed faster than we seem to be able to save it? Do you sometimes share in the despair that our dependance on Big Oil & SUV's — with their attendant wars, food to ethanol follies, and other tar sands insanities — will bring down civilization faster than the ice caps and Greenland are melting?
Petroleum, mining and other corporate interests are in a head-on collision against local, land-based cultures, in a conflict so deep the whole world is its battlefield. Solutions based on morality, human values, respect for nature, and sheer common sense appear more inaccessible now than ever.
It's a battle of two worlds, simply said. A global clash: Earth and living creatures on one side, Cash on the other.
Well, here's how leverage works:
- Find a place to stand (the support base, also called the fulcrum, or pivot)
- Find a lever (a long enough stick);
- Locate the pressure point (where you stick the lever)
- Work like hell from your end of the stick
- Move the world (...thanks Archimedes!)
Because it funds and underwrites all large-scale projects, when you want to save some corner of the planet, you may find yourself in need of moving the world of Finance. That's when knowing about the following four leverage points could come in handy.
Although it may seem like it, we are not powerless before the globalized financial services industry. There are four main leverage points that can be used to convince, cajole and coerce financial institutions.
Money. Well, yeah, this one's pretty obvious. But wait a second. Have you really thought about building the financial case to show, with numbers, how human rights abuse, community unrest, environmental destruction and potential litigation could affect the bottom line? If you help investors factor in the risks of social disruption, neglected environmental costs, and potential lawsuits, and how these can greatly reduce their economic benefits, your argument will sound more convincing. Conversely, if you demonstrate how integrating the environment and social justice will improve the financial rewards, because investors large and small could flock to well-designed, green projects, you improve your chances.
Policy. This is where you bring in the government, regulatory bodies, or even taxes into the equation. Funders will care if they see a possibility that the State may step in to impose constraints on a practice, set standards for human rights compliance, raise special fees, or just demand some reporting mechanism. So your job is to mount a credible offensive for new, improved, or enforced regulations and levees that will bring in the project under some form of public or international control.
Reputation. The business world is increasingly dependent on branding and public image — that's why billions are spent on advertising. Negative publicity and bad press, including unwanted exposure through public actions, can exert tremendous pressure on financial stakeholders. The investors' reputation is worth gold to them. Leverage its shine. Clients, customers and shareholders will exert pressures on the project's decision-makers when their own public reputation is at stake.
Values. It may seem surprising, but even the greediest money-making machines need to profess values that appear respectable. The growth of green and ethical funds also play an increasing role in the financial markets. Values may be important drivers among some of the actual human beings running the corporations. Sometimes the profit motive can fall second to other fundamental values that seem more important to the organization, or its leaders. Investigate those. If you can make yourself heard up there in the higher corporate hierarchy through value-based arguments, tied as needed to the other three levers — bottom line, policy and brand image — you may carry the day.
Waging a campaign against an opponent who doesn't seem to care can be one of the most frustrating things, as we've seen. This frustration is only based on our own circumstantial limitations. Develop a more comprensive strategic viewpoint, stir in better targeted tactics, and you can overcome these limitations.
The fortress of finance in a globalized world is not impregnable. Banks and global investors are formidable opponents, but we can impact them.
Philippe Duhamel, interTactica.org.
This was a second blog post on Leveraging the Money, the must-read tactical notebook by Ulrich Mueller. You can also delve deeper into the workings of international financial institutions and the means to influence them in Leverage for the Environment: A Guide to the Private Financial Services Industry, from the World Resources Institute.
