(Global Trade Review, London, 24 November 2021) Seven European countries have pledged to promote reforms and encourage green incentives in the export credit sector, but dashed campaigners’ hopes that they would axe public finance for fossil fuels more quickly than the end of 2022 deadline set at the Cop26 conference. The Export Finance for Future (E3F) coalition, initially comprising Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the UK, held its second virtual meeting today, hosted by the Dutch government. Belgium, Finland and Italy also joined the alliance today, Dutch state secretary for finance Hans Vijlbrief told the summit following the nations’ closed-door talks. A statement expected after the meeting had not been published as of press time, but a draft seen by GTR said the E3F countries would collaborate on strategies to meeting a pledge signed by each at the Cop26 climate change summit to end public finance support for fossil fuels by the end of 2022. The E3F members provided €20bn in export finance for fossil fuel projects overseas between 2018 and 2020, according to data cited by Oil Change International, a campaign group, and ODI, a think-tank. This compares to €17bn for clean energy projects over the same period. Vijlbrief indicated that attendees at the closed-door meeting endorsed support for natural gas beyond the end of the [Cop26] 2022 deadline. “We all know gas will play a role for a couple of years in our energy supply, that’s no secret,” he said. Peder Lundquist, chief executive of EKF, Denmark’s ECA, told the summit that “logically you need some kind of transition”, pointing to natural gas as a “stable” energy source for power grids in less-developed countries that would struggle to handle a rapid shift to renewables. Deputy assistant for export finance at France’s Treasury directorate, Paul Teboul, said his government does not plan to end support for upstream gas projects until 2035.
Newsletter
Will the capital to invest in net-zero plans be available?
(Morningstar, Chicago, 9 November 2021) Capital critical to funding the greening of utilities and other industries makes the financial industry a key player in curbing global warming. At a global climate summit last week, big banks, institutional investors, insurance companies, and regulators announced that the amount of capital controlled by institutions [which claim to be] committed to net-zero initiatives now tops $130 trillion, up from $5 trillion in 2020, according to the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero. That is about equal to the $100 trillion to $150 trillion amount required to transform the economy to a net-zero by 2050, the group claims. Banks, insurers, pension funds, asset managers, export-credit agencies, stock exchanges, credit rating agencies, index providers, and audit firms have committed to achieving net-zero emissions by 2050 at the latest and plan to report progress and financed emissions annually. For now, the impact on the finance industry itself isn’t clear. Lenders will still be looking for a good return and are already funding projects “that provide an appropriate return”. [i.e. they have to make money if they’re going to save the planet] How different portfolio companies will reduce emissions can be fraught, as they are struggling with their own net-zero plans. Dan Dorman of Calvert notes that while many of the largest banks had already committed to decarbonizing their portfolios, his conversations with executives suggest “they really don’t have details [yet] about how to land this plane.” There is also some debate about whether the group is double-counting the money that it claims is available.
G20 ECAs and public finance institutions are still bankrolling fossil fuels
(Oil Change Int’l/FOEUSA, Washington, October 2021) This 36 page reprort documents how G20 countries and the multilateral development banks (MDBs) they govern in 2018-2020 provided at least US$63 billion per year in international public finance for oil, gas, and coal projects. This fossil fuel finance was 2.5 times more than their support for renewable energy, which averaged only US$26 billion per year. This continued support for fossil fuels from trade and development finance institutions counters G20 countries’ commitments under the Paris Agreement to align financial flows with a safe climate future as well as their 2009 commitment to phase out fossil fuel subsidies. It also undermines the effectiveness of climate finance, which is still not delivered at either the scale promised (US$100 billion per year from 2020) or needed. ECAs continue to be the largest supporter of international fossil fuel projects, providing billions annually in 2018-2020: ECAs provided an average of US$40.1 billion annually to fossil fuels — 82% of ECA support. This 36 page report shows that the science is clear — governments must rapidly wind down fossil fuel production and use to avoid the worst climate impacts, noting that the recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report is a “code red for humanity.”
U.S., U.K. lead pledge to end overseas oil and gas financing, but with big caveats
(Politico, Glasgow, 4 November 2021) The United States, the U.K. and some 20 other countries and financial institutions pledged on Thursday to stop public financing for most overseas oil and gas projects by next year, though the agreement included wide latitude for participants to set their own exemptions and many of the world’s leading backers of those projects declined to sign on. The pledge is limited to ending financing of “unabated” oil and gas projects, and would allow those that include carbon capture and sequestration technology. A senior Biden administration official told POLITICO the measure includes exemptions, and that the Biden administration had not settled on how it would instruct its finance aid organizations like the U.S. Export-Import Bank. How tight any carve-outs are for oil and gas is potentially significant for Ex-Im, which approved $5 billion in fossil fuel finance the last two years, environmental group Friends of the Earth said in a statement. “While this is welcome progress, countries, especially the U.S., must hold firm to these commitments, shutting off the spigot to fossil fuel companies like [Mexico’s] Pemex and Exxon,” said Kate DeAngelis, manager of Friends of the Earth’s international finance program. She also called out “laggards like Japan and Korea” to join the new pledge.
JBIC and Private Banks Must Reconsider Decision to Finance LNG Canada Project
(Friends of the Earth Japan, Tokyo, 29 October 2021) The Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), a public financial institution fully owned by the Government of Japan, announced in a press release today that it has decided to provide up to US $850 million for the LNG Canada Project. The LNG Canada project plans to liquefy shale gas extracted from Montney, British Columbia and transported through its 670 km Coastal Gaslink pipeline to Kitimat for export to Asian markets.The decision by JBIC ahead of the 26th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 26) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) starting from the end of this week in Glasgow, England, goes against the call by the UK government to stop public financing for fossil fuels, and shows that Japan’s approach to climate change is still far from that of the rest of the world. It is inevitable that Japan will once again become the target of criticism from the international community. Serious violations of indigenous peoples rights have been pointed out in an associated project of the LNG Canada project. We strongly condemn JBIC’s decision to provide financing, disregarding the impact on climate change and the human rights of Indigenous Peoples, and call on involved operators and financial institutions to immediately withdraw from the project.
UKEF £1.5bn earmarked for Nigeria ‘largely untouched’
(PUNCH Nigeria, Lagos, 24 October 2021) The £1.5bn financing set aside for Nigeria by the UK Export Finance, the United Kingdom government’s export credit agency, has remained largely untouched, the UK Government Department for International Trade, Nigeria has said at the 2021 Energy Sustainability Conference organised by the Energy Institute Nigeria in Lagos. “UKEF is focussed on 30 countries in Africa with a combined market risk appetite of £58bn.” According to Chimwemwe Chalemera, Country Director, UK Government Department for International Trade, Nigeria, the UK’s renewable energy capabilities are a right match with the energy needs of Africa and Nigeria in achieving net zero ambitions. Meanwhile over 50 Nigerian civil society groups have written to President Buhari calling for oil in the massive OPL 245 field to be kept in the ground. This is the field that Shell and Eni acquired after allegedly paying $1.1 billion in bribes. The companies’ subsidiaries are currently being prosecuted in Nigeria and there is still an investigation in The Netherlands.
Ukraine in talks with Britain on supply of missiles
(Goa Spotlight, London, 21 October 2021) The UK is negotiating with Ukraine on the sale of the first ever consignment of weapons, in particular missiles, the Times newspaper writes with reference to a Ukrainian source. As part of the discussed agreements, London may supply Kiev with ground-to-ground missiles and aircraft missiles. The UK Ministry of Defense, according to the newspaper, is also discussing the sale of Brimstone missiles to Kiev, developed by the MDBA consortium, for installation on the ships of the Ukrainian Navy. In addition, the parties are considering the possibility of supplying air-launched Brimstone missiles, their cost is about $ 138,000. According to some reports, according to the Times, negotiations on the supply of weapons to Ukraine may also be linked to the construction of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. The talks are prompted by the strengthening of relations between Kiev and London after the UK left the European Union. In October last year, Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a contract with the UK Export Credit Agency, which deals with the supply of modern military equipment and the latest high-precision weapons to Kiev, types of military products in Ukraine, as well as the construction of bases for the Ukrainian Navy.
Will a Taliban victory advance TAPI pipeline with ECA support?
(Natural Gas World, Vancouver, 19 October 2021) The Taliban’s ascent is driving renewed discussion about the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline. Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen said on August 18 that TAPI is a “long-term priority project” that the Taliban fully supports. Since the fall of the Soviet Union, energy companies have pondered routes to send natural gas from gas-abundant yet land-locked Turkmenistan to energy-poor Pakistan and onward to India. The Berdimuhamedov government of Turkmenistan and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) have made this pipeline a priority for years, but it has long been on life support, with the project’s press releases failing to obscure its grim deficits. the project is strapped for cash. The ADB has indicated it will contribute $1 billion in loans. The Turkmen government, grappling with a massive economic crisis, has risibly pledged $1.675 billion. The remainder is envisioned to come from export credit agencies and commercial lenders, all lending individually to the four governments and relying on sovereign guarantees from each country. What is an Afghan sovereign guarantee worth?
NGOs release the 2021 Global Coal Exit List: 1000 companies driving the world towards climate chaos
(Urgewald, Berlin, 6 October 2021) Three weeks before the start of the UN Climate Summit in Glasgow, Urgewald and 40 partner NGOs have released the 2021 update of the “Global Coal Exit List” (GCEL). The GCEL provides detailed data on 1,030 companies and around 1,800 subsidiaries operating along the thermal coal value chain. It is the world’s most comprehensive public database on the coal industry.
ECAs of UAE and France sign strategic reinsurance agreement
(Insurance News Net, Dubai, 5 October 2021) Etihad Credit Insurance (ECI), the UAE Federal export credit company and the French Export Credit Agency Bpifrance Assurance Export have signed a reinsurance agreement to increase joint Emirati and French projects globally. The agreement will further strengthen the robust trade and economic cooperation between the UAE and France and boost exports in both countries by providing export insurance solutions for Emirati and French companies. The UAE is France’s second-largest trade partner in the region. As part of boosting investment and trade ties, ECI earlier signed agreements with its counterparts in the UK and Italy. The agreement with France has been deemed another milestone in ECI’s mission to deepen the UAE’s economic ties and non-oil trade.Saudi Arabia and Sweden have also discussed enhancing economic cooperation including via their ECAs.
