The row over commuting directors at environmental organisation Greenpeace and unease over investment losses has spread to the organisation’s international wing, the Volkskrant says on Tuesday.

The paper says a large number of Greenpeace International staff are now calling on director Kumi Naidoo to resign after he approved a weekly commute by plane for programme director Pascal Husting. This goes against Greenpeace policy on greenhouse gases.

The letter’s signatories stress the document is not a ‘staff statement’ but an initiative which has grown from a ‘desire for internal change’.

Travel policy

In a list of recommendations, the signatories say ‘a strict travel policy must be adhered to and enforced without exception’.

The document calls for the re-introduction of staff training to include the core values of Greenpeace and ‘how to live a green life personally’.

It also says there should be changes in board-level remuneration policy and calls for the appointment of an ombudsman.

Train

Earlier this year it emerged Husting was being allowed to commute weekly by plane from his home in Luxemburg to Amsterdam. He now uses the train.

In addition, Greenpeace was revealed to have lost €3.8m in donations through currency investments.

In a written answer, Naidoo said he will not step down as director and nor does he support the idea of an ombudsman, saying the organisation already has procedures to deal with complaints.

Last week, staff at Greenpeace Nederland also wrote to Naidoo, asking him to reconsider his position.