Index for July 2024

Volume 23, Issue 7

  • (DeSmog, Seattle, 26 June 2024) Campaigners are increasingly taking out lawsuits against the funders of fossil fuels and other climate-harming activities, according to a new report. In its annual review of climate litigation, published June 26, the London School of Economics and Political Science’s (LSE) Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment identifies a modest but growing number of lawsuits challenging the flow of finance to projects that worsen climate change. In total, 33 cases that challenge the flow of funding have been recorded since academics began keeping track nine years ago. Six were filed in 2023. In one significant recent case, human rights and environmental NGO Jubilee Australia challenged Australia’s export credit agency Export Finance Australia and the $7 billion AUD Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility for giving taxpayer-subsidized finance to risky new fossil fuel projects and related ventures that would otherwise not go ahead. Jubilee Australia wants to force the public bodies involved to disclose impact assessments for these investments. French bank BNP Paribas also recently said it would stop funding new gas projects as the risk of litigation rises. Campaigners, including Oxfam France, had sued the bank for financing fossil fuels in the first-ever climate-related lawsuit against a commercial bank. However, activists noted that BNP cut out direct loans, and it still supports oil and gas through indirect loans to other involved companies and by underwriting bonds. A previous claim from 2020 against Australian banking group ANZ confirmed that climate change was relevant to responsible business practices under the OECD guidelines, but the organization did not require companies to divest from fossil fuels. The OECD guidelines are just one example of “soft law” – agreements that are influential but not legally binding – groups use to try to push corporations and their funders in a greener direction.

  • (EcoJustice, Vancouver, 24 July 2024) Export Development Canada (EDC) has renewed a $200- to $300-million loan to oil and gas giant Enbridge Inc., despite environmental organizations raising the alarm about the serious climate consequences and human rights concerns of this financing. EDC is a federal Crown corporation and Canada’s official export credit agency – it has also been a prolific funder of fossil fuels.  Just days prior to EDC signing the deal, environmental organizations submitted an analysis to EDC asserting that corporate financing to Enbridge Inc., which has significant plans to expand fossil fuel infrastructure, does not align with the Crown corporation’s climate commitments, nor with international obligations to phase out fossil fuels and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.  In the analysis submitted by Ecojustice on behalf of Above Ground (a project of MakeWay), the Center for International Environmental Law, Environmental Defence Canada, Oil Change International and Stand.earth, major concerns about EDC’s financing of Enbridge are raised. Their submission to EDC highlights the dire impacts of climate change while also citing public reports of human rights risks and violations, and active legal challenges involving Enbridge’s projects from Indigenous groups, impacted communities, and an Attorney General. The submission calls on EDC to examine the implications of continuing to fund fossil fuel companies like Enbridge.

  • (Global Trade Review, London, 17 July 2024) Climate campaigners have accused Switzerland’s export credit agency (ECA) of “watering down” its climate commitments, after it scrapped a pledge to end all support for the fossil fuel sector. Swiss Export Risk Insurance (Serv) was one of numerous public finance institutions that pledged to end direct support for the unabated fossil fuel energy sector by the end of 2022, part of a landmark declaration on climate change agreed at the Cop26 summit in Glasgow. But in an updated policy finalised in May this year, Serv has removed that commitment. Support is still unavailable for coal or oil, or for upstream projects, but midstream gas projects are no longer prohibited. Even if a project does not meet Paris Agreement goals, Serv can still offer insurance if it is deemed in the “economic, foreign, trade and development policy interests of Switzerland”, the policy states.

  • (Climate Change News, Broadstairs UK, 27 July 2024) As world leaders gathered in Dubai at the start of COP28 last December, the United Arab Emirates dropped a surprise headline-grabbing announcement. The host nation of the UN talks promised to put $30 billion into a new climate fund aimed at speeding up the energy transition and building climate resilience, especially in the Global South. ALTÉRRA was billed as the world’s largest private investment vehicle to “focus entirely on climate solutions”. COP28 President Sultan Al-Jaber hailed its launch as “a defining moment” for creating a new era of international climate finance. Yet four months later, one of the initial funds ALTÉRRA backed with a $300-million commitment agreed to buy a major fossil gas pipeline in North America, Climate Home has discovered. Climate Home’s findings “confirm our worst fears”. “The ALTÉRRA fund uses a masquerade of green progress while funnelling investment into fossil fuel pipelines and gas projects, which are the biggest causes of the climate crisis,”

  • (US Congress, Washington, 24 June 2024) The US Congress House Financial Services Subcommittee Chairman on National Security, Illicit Finance, and International Financial Institutions, led by Chairman Blaine Luetkemeyer (MO-03), held a hearing entitled “The Role of the Export-Import (Ex-Im) Bank of the United States Amid Intensifying Economic Competition with China.” He noted "“That threat is the bid for global economic domination posed by Communist China. Unlike the United States, the CCP does not subscribe to the rules-based order that has governed trade and export credit financing for nearly a century. The CCP demonstrates daily that it plays by its own rules and will do anything to gain footholds in strategic sectors vital to security. China’s highly aggressive actions in export credit financing blend beyond economic advancement and are clearly an effort to enhance its global power and economic might. It is critical, the United States compete and win in this arena against China."

  • (C-Span, Washington, 27 June 2024) Reta Jo Lewis, president and chair of the U.S. Export-Import Bank, testified before the House Financial Services Subcommittee National Security, Illicit Finance, and International Financial Institutions on oversight of bank operations and U.S.-China economic competition. Several topics were addressed, including fossil fuel and green energy investments, U.S. manufacturing and trade, workplace culture concerns, and challenges posed by China’s Belt and Road Initiative. She also spoke on the bank’s China and Transformational Exports Program (CTEP), which helps U.S. exporters remain competitive with China in key export areas, such as artificial intelligence (AI), wireless communications, renewable energy, and semiconductor manufacturing.

  • (Harris Sliwoski, Los Angeles, 17 July 2024) US law firm accuses Sinosure of pressuring clients to pay off Chinese factories for allegedly owed money. They claim the Chinese state-owned export credit insurance company actively pursues overseas companies for alleged unpaid debts on behalf of Chinese manufacturers saying "Sinosure subsidizes Chinese companies and then aggressively seeks reimbursement from overseas companies. It often hires debt collectors and law firms to chase foreign companies for money supposedly owed to its insured Chinese manufacturers. A foreign company pays a Chinese manufacturer an advance for a large order. The rest is owed upon delivery. The shipment arrives, but the quality is terrible and unusable. The foreign company refuses to pay the balance owed and requests a refund or new products. The Chinese company goes silent or tries to negotiate. Then Sinosure jumps in. Sinosure demands payment through threatening calls or letters. It threatens to sue the foreign company in China or its home country." They publish "China Sinosure as Existential Threat and Fighting Back Against Fake (and Real) Sinosure Claims: A Primer"

  • (India Times, New Delhi, 26 June 2024) India is expected to extend a key support scheme for export credit to boost its export sector, which has been hit hard by a slowdown in developed countries. The commerce and industry ministry has proposed an extension of the interest equalisation scheme beyond June 30, providing a 3% benefit for manufacturer micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) and a 2% incentive for exporters of 410 identified tariff lines. The Centre is likely to extend a key support scheme for export credit to enhance competitiveness of India's export sector, which was hit hard by slowdown in the developed countries, said people familiar with the matter.

  • (Reuters, Madrid, 15 July 2024) Spanish ECA Cesce has moved to support Siemens Energy's (ENR1n.DE) wind turbine division, Siemens Gamesa, as part of a 1.2 billion euro ($1.31 billion) guarantee facility. The Spanish state's backstop will be up to 600 million euros, or 50% of the package to support wind projects, and will be deployed via Cesce. Six banks also support the guarantee facility. Siemens Energy recently announced an overhaul of its struggling wind division, which was affected by major quality issues at its newer onshore wind turbine platforms. Last year the German government agreed to support Siemens Energy with guarantees worth 7.5 billion euros as part of a deal with other stakeholders.

  • (The Asset, Hong Kong, 10 July 2024) Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) has signed a general agreement with Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) to provide a credit line of up to US$3 billion. The Japanese export credit agency will contribute US$$1.8 billion. The proceeds will fund projects related to decarbonization and energy transition to be implemented by Adnoc or its subsidiaries in the United Arab Emirates or internationally. Adnoc, an energy company wholly owned by the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, aims to achieve net zero by 2045. It promotes renewable energy, hydrogen and ammonia as fuel sources, carbon capture and storage (CCS), and other green energy initiatives. According to JBIC, Abu Dhabi has been a stable and important supplier of crude oil to Japan for more than 40 years, and as such, is a strategic partner for Japan's energy resource strategy. In addition, Abu Dhabi has high potential in the field of decarbonization and energy transition as it has abundant resources for renewable energy and subterranean structures suitable for CCS.

  • (Global Trade Review, London, 24 July 2024) The UK and Ukraine have signed an expanded defence pact and an export credit deal for the Ukrainian nuclear energy operator. A Defence Export Support Treaty, signed last week during a visit to London by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, will allow Kyiv to use part of UK Export Finance’s (UKEF) £3.5bn capacity for Ukraine coverage to purchase military goods and services. The treaty expands on a similar agreement signed in 2021 covering exports to Ukraine’s navy. The text of the document has not been published and it still requires ratification by the UK parliament.