Ahead of critical OECD talks, international civil society organizations demand an end to $41 billion a year in fossil fuel financing
WASHINGTON, DC — As crucial negotiations loom on Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) rules for export financing for energy, over 40 environmental, climate, human rights, and development organizations from around the world demand that OECD governments conclude negotiations to end export finance support for fossil fuels.
OECD countries’ Export Credit Agencies (ECAs) are the world’s largest international public financiers of fossil fuels – financing around USD $41 billion a year in fossil fuels – despite a myriad of international promises to end their fossil fuel financing.
Following progress in restricting export finance for coal at the OECD, on 18th November, governments will meet to negotiate proposals supported by the European Union, the United Kingdom, Canada and Norway to end export finance for oil and gas. The CSO letter calls on OECD countries to support these proposals.
In 2021, OECD countries agreed to end financing for coal-fired power, and promised to revisit the prohibition clause and align the rest of the Arrangement with the goals of the Paris Agreement “no later” than December 2022. As of 2024, despite a proposal having been made by the European Union with the support of others, a deal has still not been reached. This has to do with opposition from countries including the United States, Korea and Japan. While the United States has committed to end its international fossil fuel finance under the Clean Energy Transition Partnership (CETP), it continues to finance fossil fuel projects in violation of this commitment. Japan has made a similar commitment under the G7, but is failing to follow through/implement it. Korea has yet to make any commitment to end its financing to oil and gas.
CSO signatories write to negotiators: “We are disappointed to see OECD members [i.e. United States and Switzerland] failing to deliver on this critical [CETP] promise, and have continued to finance fossil fuel projects past the end of 2022 deadline for ending such support. We call on these countries, and especially the United States, to publish domestic policies for their Export Credit Agencies to end fossil fuel financing, and to align with other CETP leaders at the OECD to deliver on a binding decision to expand Article 6 to the entire fossil fuel value chain by the end of 2024.”
They conclude: “We look forward to seeing all OECD members demonstrate climate leadership in the final months of 2024 by reaching an agreement under the OECD Export Credit Arrangement to end international export finance to the entire fossil fuel value chain. We stand ready to support all OECD countries willing to lead in bold climate action, and are available to answer any questions and discuss this topic in further detail on a call. The world is watching. Now is the time to lead, and turn promises into action.”
Signatories include international, national, youth, and frontline organizations from around the world, such as Friends of the Earth, 350.org, Asian Peoples Movement on Debt and Development (APMDD), and the Environmental Governance Institute (Uganda).