PUBLIC FINANCE
Governments are still spending billions subsidizing oil, gas and coal. We need to #StopFundingFossils and start investing in the future.
OVERVIEW OF WORK
Since the Paris Agreement, G20 governments have continued to finance more than USD 77 billion dollars annually in fossil fuels through multilateral development banks (MDBs), bilateral development finance institutions (DFIs), and export credit agencies (ECAs). This is three times the support they provide to clean energy. Beyond providing this direct monetary backing, these institutions reduce perceived risk and provide a government stamp of approval on fossil fuel projects that often serves to crowd in private finance. While recently the level of fossil fuel support has started to drop, institutional policies to exclude fossil fuel finance are needed to ensure this progress continues.
While a number of public finance institutions committed to ending coal finance in the early 2010s, it wasn’t until 2017, following years of campaign pressure by Oil Change and others, that the World Bank made a meaningful commitment to stop financing for upstream oil and gas. Following an intense campaign effort, in 2019 the European Investment Bank committed to ending nearly all oil, gas and coal finance. Recently, the UK announced it would end overseas oil and gas finance, and the EU and US, among others, have signalled that they intend to follow suit. Building off these successes, OCI is now working to secure further commitments from governments and public finance institutions on ending public finance for fossil fuels.
LATEST PROGRAM POSTS
Today 222 civil society groups from 55 countries sent an open letter calling on world leaders to transform international public finance to tackle climate change and deliver a just energy transition.
Minutes ago, Norway joined a major international initiative to end international public finance for fossil fuels today at COP28, called the Clean Energy Transition Partnership.
Over 250 organizations from 30 countries call on governments to support fellow OECD members' efforts to end oil and gas export finance at OECD meeting on 6 November 2023.Â
Ending fossil fuel subsidies presents a massive opportunity to shift billions to pay for energy efficiency, renewable energy, and climate finance, as well as to social protection measures that can mitigate any harmful impacts on households. If the Netherlands takes action now, it has an opportunity to bring other countries along at COP28, the upcoming UN climate conference in Dubai.
LATEST PROGRAM RESEARCH
If the world is going to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement on climate change, international financial institutions—including the World Bank—must do their part. The World Bank has made commitments to fight against climate change but continues to finance fossil fuel exploration, production, and combustion—the primary drivers of climate change.
Hidden Costs: Pollution from Coal Power Financed by OECD Countries
November 2015
Oil Change International and WWF
DOWNLOAD REPORT
OECD countries support coal-fired power plants abroad by providing preferential financing through institutions called Export Credit Agencies (ECAs). These coal-fired power plants have significant costs, in the form damages to the health of local populations from air pollution, and the cost of climate-change causing emissions.
This report finds that support for coal-fired power plants from the ECAs of OECD countries is implicated in tens of billions of dollars in local health impacts and climate change pollution each year.
Coal-fired power plants financed by Korean ECAs - supported by the
Public support for fossil fuel exploration in rich countries is nearly triple the amount pledged to the Green Climate Fund.