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
With hundreds of millions of people across the word suffering from the fallout of higher energy prices and a cost of living crisis caused by Russia’s deadly war on Ukraine, this week’s G7 summit was the perfect opportunity for the world’s most powerful politicians to show clear compelling leadership.
Glasgow Statement signatories need to take urgent action to get on track to end international public support for fossil fuels, with 6 months left to meet their deadline.
June 30, 2022—The COP 26 Statement on International Public Support for the Clean Energy Transition—the Glasgow Statement—requires signatories to end new direct overseas support for fossil fuels by the end of 2022 and fully prioritize their international public finance for a clean and just energy transition. But halfway through the year, only a handful of signatories have published new or updated policies that turn these pledges into action, new research shows. In addition,
G7 leaders watered down a commitment made in May by their energy ministers to end international public finance for fossil fuels by the end of this year, drawing a swift rebuke from climate and development campaigners.
Today G7 climate, energy and environment ministers issued a communique committing to end public finance for fossil fuels by the end of this year.
LATEST PROGRAM RESEARCH
G20 governments continue to provide billions of dollars for the production and consumption of fossil fuels. This report finds that they provide at least USD $63.9 billion per year in government support to the production and consumption of coal alone, with almost three-quarters of the support identified being directed to coal-fired power production.
Over the past decade, nearly 90% of the U.S. Export-Import Bank's total finance for energy projects has flowed to projects in oil, gas, and coal. As momentum grows for climate solutions in the U.S. and abroad, there is an urgent need for a ban on fossil fuel financing at ExIm.
There is no room for further financing of fossil gas or any other fossil fuel projects by the EIB. This briefing calls for the new Energy Lending Policy to reflect this reality. The EIB cannot claim to uphold its commitment to align its finance with the Paris Agreement if it continues to finance fossil gas projects.