Friends of the Earth USA

CSOs demand reduced OECD ECA support for oil and gas

(Price of Oil, Washington, November 2022) This document signed by 54 international civil society organizations outlines how the OECD Arrangement on Officially Supported Export Credits can align with the Paris Agreement warming target of 1.5°C by placing restrictions on export support for oil and gas projects and associated infrastructure. These restrictions build on the existing prohibition on coal-fired power, which came into effect 1 January 2022 and was preceded by the coal-fired power sector understanding (CFSU).

European countries back weakened ECA fossil fuel financing pledge

(Financial Management Magazine, Durham, 4 November 2022) As noted in our October What’s New, ten European countries had agreed to spell out this year how they will limit export finance support for overseas fossil fuel projects. But they shelved a draft pledge to explicitly end it after pushback from Italy. The final statement was weaker than a previous draft seen by Reuters. At the UN COP26 climate summit in November 2021, 39 countries and financial institutions, including the Netherlands, signed the Glasgow Statement on International Public Support for the Clean Energy Transition, committing signatories to end their direct international public financing for fossil fuels by the end of 2022, except in exceptional circumstances, and fully prioritize their public finance for clean energy transition. If all signatories followed through on their pledges with integrity, this could directly shift US$28 billion a year from fossil fuels to clean energy and help shift even larger sums of public and private money away from investments in climate-harming fossil fuels. International and Dutch NGOs now argue that the new policy published by the Dutch Government on restricting finance for fossil fuels has such significant loopholes, that it essentially means the Netherlands has reneged on its promise. The Dutch government said it intends to stop giving companies and banks credit insurance for exports in the fossil fuel sector as of Jan. 1, following through on a pledge made at the COP-26 climate conference in Glasgow. When the pledge was announced in 2021, the Cabinet said it did so knowing it would put Dutch exporters at a competitive disadvantage to exporters in countries that do still offer such insurance and the Finance Ministry said the Netherlands might reconsider the policy if other countries fail to adhere to their COP-26 pledges. According to Statistics Netherlands (CBS), petroleum and petroleum products made up 9.3% of Dutch exports in 2021, with a trade value of 54.7 billion euros. Around 20 countries including Germany, the United States, Britain and Canada made similar commitments, but only a few including France have so far implemented them into policy. On the other hand, Australia chose not to sign the Glasgow Statement at a public event held at Cop27 in Sharm el-Sheikh.

ECAs are the worst public finance supporters of fossil fuels over clean energy

(Oil Change International, Washington, 1 November 2022) OCI’s new report “At a Crossroads: Assessing G20 and MDB international energy finance ahead of stop funding fossils pledge deadline” looks at G20 country and MDB traceable international public finance for fossil fuels from 2019-2021 and finds they are still backing at least USD 55 billion per year in oil, gas, and coal projects. This is a 35% drop compared to previous years (2016-2018), but still, almost twice the support provided for clean energy, which averaged only $29 billion per year. ECAs were the worst public finance actors, providing seven times more support for fossil fuels than clean energy – at least $34 billion per year for fossil fuels and just $4.7 billion for clean energy. The report analyzes finance from OCI’s open-access database, and Public Finance for Energy’s Database (energyfinance.org), which have been updated alongside the release of this report. It tracks financial flows to fossil fuels and clean energy from G20 bilateral development finance institutions (DFIs), export finance agencies (ECAs), and the multilateral development banks (MDBs). The report from OCI and Friends of the Earth US has been endorsed by a long list of international civil society organizations.

Friends of the Earth US asks Biden to “RELEASE THE GUIDANCE!”

(Friends of the Earth US, Washington, 24 October 2022) Friends of the Earth US has produced a 16 page backgrounder on U.S. international energy finance ahead of the COP27 Deadline to Stop Funding Fossils. From 2010 to 2021, the United States’ major trade and development finance institutions, the U.S. Export Import Bank (EXIM) and U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), provided almost five times as much support to fossil fuels as to renewables – USD 51.6 billion compared to USD 10.9 billion. Since taking office, the Biden-Harris Administration have made a series of commitments, executive orders, and guidances towards ending this international public finance for fossil fuels. Unfortunately, the administration’s actions have yet not matched their promises on ending these influential financial flows that prolong the fossil fuel era. In this briefing, Friends of the Earth USA review what is known about the current U.S. policy guidance, unpack trends in recent energy finance from EXIM and DFC, identify specific fossil fuel projects and loopholes that appear to be under consideration, and make recommendations for how the U.S. can still implement their commitments with integrity and on time. Most critically, Biden’s interim guidance detailing how these promises will be implemented has not been made publicly available since it was put in place in December 2021, and it appears to leave substantial loopholes open for continued support for gas and oil. The Biden-Harris Administration can avoid undermining international progress on this issue by releasing a publicly available policy that fully ends international public finance for fossil fuels by COP27 in November.

South Korean ECAs challenged during National Assembly session about Barossa Project

(Friends of the Earch US, Washington, 24 October 2022) During the annual National Assembly audit this month, Korea Export-Import Bank (KEXIM) and Korea Trade Insurance Corporation (K-SURE) were questioned by assembly members on their decision to finance the Barossa gas project in Australia. The Barossa project, spearheaded by Australia’s Santos and Korea’s SK E&S, was recently ordered to halt drilling after the Australian Federal Court decided Traditional Owners had not been properly consulted. While both KEXIM and K-SURE have approved a total of USD 660 million (KRW 800 billion) of additional financing for the project, the financial deal has not been closed yet. During this year’s National Assembly audit session, K-SURE was reprimanded for violating international environmental regulations and was questioned on the Ministry of Environment’s greenwashing ruling around SK E&S’ advertisements about Barossa gas. K-SURE stated that it screened the project in accordance with international guidelines and Australian law. It also claimed that if Santos loses its Barossa drilling appeal heard at the Australian Federal Court, it will likely decide whether to proceed with its financing. A hearing from a National Assembly member revealed that K-SURE was aware of the lack of Indigenous consultation but relied on the words of project owners and commercial banks supporting the gas project, showing a passive review process in deciding to provide billions of wons’ worth of taxpayer money. With continued criticism from assembly members, the Chairman of K-SURE stated that the agency will comprehensively review various risks associated with the project before deciding whether to extend the expiration date of its financing approval, which is January 2023.  Environmental activists have continued to demand the cancellation of public financing toward the Barossa gas project.