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The latest from WDM

Welcome to the World Development Movement news pages. You can view our news by category in each campaign section, or get the whole lot below. For press inquiries please contact the press office.

We have RSS feeds for all our news, or listed by category.

You can also follow us on Twitter for reactions and news about events as they happen.


14 February 2013

Barclays, which announced an end to its speculation on food on Tuesday, made up to an estimated £278 million from the trade in 2012. The figure brings the bank’s total revenue from food speculation from 2010 to 2012 to an estimated three quarters of a billion pounds.

12 February 2013

Barclays chief Antony Jenkins announced today that the bank would stop speculating on food, saying the practice is “not compatible with our purpose”. It is unclear whether the bank will continue to broker speculative deals for its clients. Campaigners have renewed calls for tough regulation to prevent speculation fuelling price spikes and contributing to the global hunger crisis.

4 February 2013

Massive protests against British mining company GCM Resources prevented the company’s CEO visiting the site of its proposed open-pit coal mine in Bangladesh last week. One of the company’s directors resigned the following day.

CEO Gary Lye was due to visit Phulbari on 29 January, where GCM wants to open a mine that would displace up to 220,000 people. Mr Lye had planned to distribute blankets to people living in the area, according to the local press. Thousands of people joined protests against the mine, and Lye abandoned his visit on official advice.

21 January 2013

Goldman Sachs made up to an estimated £251 million (US$400 million) in 2012 from speculating on food including wheat, maize and soy, prompting campaigners to accuse the bank of contributing to a growing global food crisis.

Goldman Sachs is recognised as the leading global player in financial speculation on food and other commodities, and created the first commodity index funds which allow huge amounts of money to be gambled on prices.

20 December 2012

Campaigners have filed a complaint against British coal miner GCM Resources over a controversial open-pit coal mine in Bangladesh, ahead of the company’s AGM in London today. 

13 December 2012

The 18th annual Conference of the Parties (COP 18) took place in Doha, Qatar between 26 November and 8 December. Like last year’s conference in Durban, the stakes were high, with the world coming ever closer to the point of no return on climate change and the Kyoto Protocol, the world’s only legally binding emissions reductions treaty, due to expire at the end of 2012.

4 December 2012

The World Development Movement has warned that the climate finance the UK government has announced it will provide to developing countries risks putting money meant to help the poor into the hands of multinational companies.

The UK’s Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) said today it would spend £1.8 billion between 2013 and 2015 to help poor countries adapt to climate change and develop clean energy.

29 November 2012

Barclays Bank has hinted it is considering pulling out of food speculation due to ‘reputational risk’. The World Development Movement is calling on the bank to commit to ending its involvement in commodity markets, and is urging George Osborne to back tough rules to curb speculation at a European level.

12 November 2012

A Bangladeshi human rights worker has written an open letter to Bob Geldof ahead of a meeting tomorrow between the rock star and the UK international development secretary, Justine Greening, telling him that UK aid money is promoting sweatshops in Bangladesh.

9 November 2012

WDM has reacted with concern to international development secretary Justine Greening’s announcement today that no new British financial aid grants will be made to India with immediate effect, and that from now on UK aid to India will focus on private sector projects designed to help the poor while generating a return.

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