Research

Communities in Africa have generally contributed the least to climate change, been undermined the most by international trade and finance policies, and have a right to better international support for distributed renewable energy. In order to reach universal energy access before the 2030 target set by the UN Sustainable Development Goals, international public finance institutions have an urgent responsibility to provide more funding and better financial transparency and tracking for distributed renewable energy. Additionally, they have a responsibility to foster local participation in and ownership of distributed renewable energy initiatives. This briefing provides recommendations for how international public finance institutions can fulfill this responsibility, while revealing that from 2016 to 2018, fossil fuels received more than 3.5 times the support than all kinds of renewable energy did during this period.

Amidst a climate crisis and global pandemic, it's essential that countries develop public finance packages that phase out fossil fuel production and invest in a just, green transition toward renewable energy that benefits communities and industry workers. While the Netherlands has committed to redirect financial flows from fossil fuels to climate action, this report reveals that the Dutch Government continues to provide billions — at least €8.3 billion per year — in taxpayer backed support for the production and use of fossil fuels.

As COVID-19 and other factors force an unmanaged decline of oil and gas, a new peer-reviewed study outlines how policymakers can plan for a better future, with an equitable phase-out of fossil fuels.

This report reveals G20 countries have provided at least $77 billion a year in public finance to oil, gas and coal projects since the Paris Agreement through their international public finance institutions. This government-backed support to fossil fuels from export credit agencies, development finance institutions, and multilateral development banks is more than three times what they are providing to clean energy

The COVID-19 crisis poses a threat to people's health, their jobs and their lives, and like all crises, exacerbates already existing inequalities. Trillions in public finance will be needed to get through the current pandemic. This briefing outlines why continuing to rely on fossil fuels, in particular oil and gas, is not compatible with long-term recovery. It does not make sense to use the COVID-19 stimulus packages to try to revive a sunsetting industry which will not deliver on economic recovery, only to shut it down a few years later to meet climate goals.

This briefing provides a technical analysis of how the International Energy Agency's (IEA) 2019 World Energy Outlook (WEO) continues to steer governments and investors off track in tackling the climate crisis.

The U.S. government should acquire ownership and control over fossil fuel companies to safeguard workers, avoid taxpayer-funded bailouts, restore communities, save taxpayer dollars, and ensure an eventual managed phase-out of coal, oil, and gas production.

A new report, Banking on Climate Change 2020, reveals that 35 private-sector banks across Canada, China, Europe, Japan, and the U.S. have financed fossil fuels with USD $2.7 trillion since the Paris Agreement was adopted (2016-2019), with financing on the rise each year. The report finds that fossil fuel financing continues to be dominated by the big U.S. banks – JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Citi, and Bank of America – together, these four banks account for a staggering 30% of all fossil fuel financing from the 35 major global banks since the Paris Agreement was adopted.

A new briefing finds that New Mexico cannot meet its commitment to global climate goals if it allows a massive expansion in oil and gas production.

In January 2020, organizations, networks and community resistance groups from Africa and around the world deliberated on issues including fossil fuels dependence, climate change, energy access and the just transition. Following two days of discussions, they released the following communiqué.