France restricts oil & gas finance to meet climate commitments, piling pressure on Germany, USA, Canada to follow suit

(Oil Change International, Washington, 26 September 2022) the French Government has published a new policy that restricts public finance for fossil fuels from the French export credit agency, BPIFrance. This policy is meant to implement France’s commitment to end international public finance for fossil fuels by the end of 2022, which it made at the UN Climate Conference in Glasgow last year along with 38 other countries and financial institutions (The Glasgow Statement). The French Development Agency (AFD), which is also subject to the Glasgow commitment, had already adopted a near-complete fossil fuel exclusion in 2019. The policy – which will be enacted in law through the French Government’s budget – is a landmark win for French campaigners who have been calling for an end to French export finance for fossil fuel projects for years. In addition, it builds pressure on fellow Glasgow Statement signatories to keep their promise and announce their Glasgow-compliant policies by the upcoming COP27 UN Climate Conference in Egypt. So far, the United Kingdom, Denmark, Belgium, Sweden and now France have published policies to implement their Glasgow commitment. The new policy implements a commitment made at last year’s UN Climate Conference to end almost all French government-backed financing for international fossil fuel projects, responsible for €9.3bn in public finance for oil and gas between 2009 and 2019.