The Public Eye Award in Davos named and shamed AngloGold Ashanti as the recipient of the environmental and social irresponsibility award. On the sidelines of the World Economic Forum campaigners claimed that the firm contaminates land and people with its gold mining in Ghana.
As per the campaigners AngloGold Ashanti has destroyed over 50 rivers in Ghana that are indispensable for the residents. The rivers dry up, or mining toxins cause them to die off completely alleged the activists. A fact that the company spokesperson Alan Fine disagreed with in his response to the Public Eye Award.
He said that firstly they had no idea what criteria was used for the award. Secondly they had not been approached by the organizations and thirdly most of the events that they referred to had happened many years ago before the company was established.
In an online poll Neste Oil a bio-diesel manufacturer from Finland won the world’s worst company award. It secured 17,000 of the 50,000 votes cast. It won the dubious distinction because it accelerates rainforest destruction and displaces ever more local communities in Indonesia and Malaysia by extracting palm oil.
In response Simo Honkanen who is responsible for sustainability at Neste Oil said that the company was disappointed in the outcome of the Public Eye Award announced today and believes that it does not reflect the true nature of the situation. He believed that they were one of the world's most responsible companies buying palm oil today.