UK Export Finance accused of failing to consider climate risks

(Business Green, London, 17 March 2020) The UK's export credit agency was today accused of breaching OECD guidelines governing multinational organisations, with campaigners accusing the government of "rank hypocrisy". NGO Global Witness has lodged a complaint with the Paris-based OECD, which provides guidelines for how industrialised economies should respond to the climate crisis. The complaint alleges that UKEF has breached guidelines for multinational enterprises by failing to adequately consider climate-related risks and report on its greenhouse gas emissions. It also alleges that the agency has no targets to reduce emissions. The OECD cannot compel enterprises to develop a climate risk strategy, but it can publicly state that its guidelines have been broken. The complaint, which is the first of its kind to be levelled against an export credit agency, will see UKEF enter into an arbitration process mediated by the OECD.