ECA Support for Coal in the Face of OECD Financing Restrictions

(Friends of the Earth USA, Washington, 13 November 2018) In order to avoid the worst impacts of climate change, no new fossil fuel power plants should have been built after 2017. Despite this, little-known government agencies called export credit agencies (ECAs) are still providing many billions in financing to fossil fuel projects all over the globe. From 2013 to 2015, the world’s largest ECAs provided an annual average of USD 38 billion in support of fossil fuels. Eighty-eight percent of ECA support for energy projects went toward fossil fuels, compared to seven percent for clean energy projects. A new report available here (pdf) analyzes potential and current support for coal plants by ECAs in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which includes most of the world’s largest ECAs (though, notably, not China).