Swiss ECA faces backlash after climate policy U-turn

(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.

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