Korean environmentalists flag Kexim Bank coal financing & GCF membership conflict

(Korea Federation for Environmental Movements, Seoel, 27 June 2016) There have been big concerns over Korea Exim bank’s involvement in the Green Climate Fund (GCF) as the bank has a long record of providing financing support for coal projects. The objective of GCF is “to promote the paradigm shift towards low emission and climate-resilient development pathways by providing support to developing countries.” Korea has been praised internationally as a model on climate change and green growth as it announced the ‘low carbon and green growth’ as a national vision in 2008 and hosted GCF headquarter in Songdo.

In addition to our concerns with KEXIM's application, in general we do not believe that export credit agencies are appropriate entities to be accredited by the Green Climate Fund. Export credit agencies are created by governments with the narrow mission of promoting exports and job creation in the agency's home country. This limited mission is inconsistent with, and may be in direct conflict with, the mission and core principles of the GCF, including promoting country ownership, local sustainable development benefits, the efficient use of GCF resources, and the Fund's international competitive bidding requirements.