(Global Witness, London, 12 June 2020) UKEF have been in the spotlight more and more over the last year for their disproportionate support for the fossil fuel industry. Last year, UKEF provided nearly £2 billion in taxpayer support for fossil fuel projects all over the world. Despite dozens of MPs, two high-profile Parliamentary inquiries and one former UN Secretary-General calling on UKEF to stop funding fossil fuels, the Government continues to ignore calls for change. It has just been revealed that 96% of the gifts and hospitality accepted by UKEF in the past 20 years related to the energy sector were paid for by major fossil fuel companies, including Saudi Arabia’s state-owned oil business Saudi Aramco and Gazprom, which is owned by the Russian government.
Global Witness
ECA aircraft Financing in a post-COVID-19 world
(Lexology, London, 30 April 2020) While businesses lobby governments for support, there have been suggestions that ECAs may need to step up to fill a reduced commercial debt capacity for aircraft. During the 2008-2009 global financial crisis, European ECAs financed up to a third of annual Airbus delivery output and the Export-Import Bank of the United States supported around 20% of Boeing deliveries. Given the ECAs’ unique roles in providing state supported finance, could the current crisis provide an opportunity for governments to affirm their commitment to promoting environmental, social and governance (“ESG”) accountability? Policy makers are no doubt acutely aware that as public attitudes to ESG issues have been changing, so too have the reputational risks of being on the ‘wrong’ side of the ESG debate increased. Most recently this has been borne out in the aviation industry by the rise of ‘flightshaming’ and the fall-out from the grounding of Boeing’s 737 Max and the scrutiny surrounding Boeing’s use of share buy-backs. The reputational impact of ESG issues has been an issue for UKEF as recently as March 2020, when UKEF was accused of breaching OECD guidelines governing multi-national organisations in its decision to fund fossil fuel projects overseas. NGO Global Witness lodged a complaint with the OECD alleging that UKEF failed to adequately consider climate-related risks. The complaint, which is the first of its kind against an ECA, will see UKEF enter a ‘specific instance’ review process mediated by the UK national contact point at the OECD, which cannot compel enterprises to develop climate risk strategies, but which can publicly state that OECD guidelines have been broken. In many countries, government financial aid packages have prompted heated public debate as to what businesses should be considered ‘worthy’ of government support.
UK Export Finance accused of failing to consider climate risks
(Business Green, London, 17 March 2020) The UK’s export credit agency was today accused of breaching OECD guidelines governing multinational organisations, with campaigners accusing the government of “rank hypocrisy”. NGO Global Witness has lodged a complaint with the Paris-based OECD, which provides guidelines for how industrialised economies should respond to the climate crisis. The complaint alleges that UKEF has breached guidelines for multinational enterprises by failing to adequately consider climate-related risks and report on its greenhouse gas emissions. It also alleges that the agency has no targets to reduce emissions. The OECD cannot compel enterprises to develop a climate risk strategy, but it can publicly state that its guidelines have been broken. The complaint, which is the first of its kind to be levelled against an export credit agency, will see UKEF enter into an arbitration process mediated by the OECD.
MPs make unprecedented call for end to UKEF overseas fossil fuel support
(EU Today, London, 9 June 2019) For the first time, a Parliamentary committee has called for an end to taxpayer support for overseas fossil fuel projects. The Government must move immediately to end UKEF’s fossil fuel support, or all its talk of a ‘climate emergency’ will be seen as hollow words. The UK Government must act on today’s report by parliament’s Environmental Audit Committee about UK Export Finance, which calls for an end to UK taxpayer support for overseas fossil fuel projects by 2021. UK Export Finance (UKEF), the UK’s export credit agency, underwrites loans and insurance for export deals as part of efforts to help British business overseas. Global Witness was instrumental in calling for Parliament’s Environmental Audit Committee to set up the inquiry into UKEF. (26 June 2019, edie newsroom) Thousands of campaigners across the UK are marching today towards Parliament in a bid to urge MPs and the Government to strengthen commitments to tackling climate change, just days after the House of Commons approved draft recommendations for a national net-zero target.
