Sir, Adam Lerrick's outraged denunciation of all-powerful non-governmental organisations - even discounting his conservative affiliations - misrepresents reality in quite an amazing way for an academic ("Good intentions at the expense of the poor", August 2). Southern NGOs, an expression of healthy democratic dynamism, vigorously oppose certain Northern investments - by no means all - because the related projects are believed to be ecologically damaging, to involve human rights abuses, and/or to be economically unsound. NGOs are fundamental in providing transparency in how these deals are struck and provoke healthy debate...Northern NGOs support these Southern campaigns by exposing the inconsistencies between their governments' stated development policies and the commercial practices, and shine a much-needed light on Northern business practices...Professor Lerrick suggests that principles of sustainable development (ie the Equator Principles and the UN Environmental Programme's Finance Initiative) only add social and environmental costs to projects, at the expense of maximum returns...Performance indicators of financial institutions such as ABN-Amro or the cement manufacturer Holcim...prove that he is wrong.