00:00Donald Pols, the former director of Dutch environmental group Milieu Defensie, sparked
00:05controversy last month when he announced a surprise move to steel magnate Tata Steele
00:09as chief sustainability officer.
00:12But the switch was quickly brought to an end when Tata Steele announced his dismissal on
00:17Tuesday after just one day on the job.
00:20The turnaround came after it was revealed that Pols had been a member of a far-right
00:24pro-apartheid student movement in South Africa in the 80s and early 90s.
00:30Pols had previously gained attention for his prominent role in a high-profile court case
00:34that Milieu Defensie had brought against fossil fuel giant Shell, which was overturned in an
00:40appeals case last year. The original case against Shell ordering it to reduce its greenhouse gas
00:45emissions was the first such ruling against a company and the world. Milieu Defensie expressed
00:51deep disappointment in Pols when he announced the switch to Tata Steele, one of the Netherlands'
00:56largest polluters. Tata Steele is facing its own legal battle in the Netherlands after residents
01:01in the city near its largest factory sued the company for 1.5 billion euros for health problems
01:07caused by the factory, as well as a fall in house values. It has also received a 2.4 million
01:14euro penalty
01:14for excessive emissions of hydrogen fluoride and heavy metals.
01:19Pols had justified his move to Tata Steele as a logical next step,
01:23arguing that industrial sustainability could also be driven from within.
Comments