Deal to limit ECA oil and gas funding abroad hinges on US

(E&E News, Arlington, 17 June 2024) The fate of an international plan to end a major funding source for fossil fuel projects could be decided this week by U.S. officials. Some of the world’s richest countries will meet behind closed doors starting Monday to discuss a European Union-led proposal to end loans and guarantees from their export credit agencies to oil and gas projects. It’s part of an evolving arrangement under the Paris-headquartered Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development — a group of 38 countries that collaborate on issues of trade and finance — and follows a 2021 deal to end such investments in coal. If the countries under the arrangement reach a new agreement, it could help squelch the flow of billions of dollars into polluting energies. If they don’t, the proposal could get punted to the next round of talks in November, when former President Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee for president, could be re-elected — which would threaten any agreement to restrict fossil fuel investments. “All eyes are on the U.S.,” said Kate DeAngelis, deputy director of international finance at the climate advocacy group Friends of the Earth. “Without the U.S coming to the table, we’re not going to see Japan and Korea get in line. And so I think if nothing happens, then that’s telling in and of itself that it’s a failure of U.S. leadership.”