Markey Asks Biden to Draft Plan for Ending Public Funding of Overseas Fossil Fuel Projects

U.S. Sen Ed Markey on Wednesday led a group of upper chamber lawmakers who urged the Biden administration "to fulfill its commitment in the Glasgow Statement by publicly releasing a plan for ending public financing of unabated international fossil fuel projects by the end of 2022."

"To date, the United States has not made public its plan for meeting these pledges by the end of the year."

Last year, dozens of countries and institutions including the United States pledged at COP26 in Glasgow, Scotland to end public financing of the overseas unabated fossil fuel sector by the end of this year and fully prioritize a shift to clean energy investment.

"To date, the United States has not made public its plan for meeting these pledges by the end of the year," wrote Markey (D-Mass.)--who chairs the Senate Environment and Public Works Subcommittee on Clean Air, Climate, and Nuclear Safety--along with Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).

"In order to assess whether the United States will succeed in meeting them, we must understand the steps the country is planning to take to achieve them," the senators explained. "That is why we are asking you to release your plan for how the United States will fulfill its Glasgow Statement commitments."

"To strengthen our position as a global leader on climate change, enable effective oversight of U.S. public finance, and catalyze similar efforts from multilateral banks and other countries, the United States must demonstrate in transparent and concrete terms how it intends to fulfill this crucial climate pledge," the lawmakers asserted.

The letter continues:

The public release of our plan to implement the Glasgow Statement commitments will help the United States encourage other governments and their institutions, as well as public finance institutions, to hold themselves accountable to their pledge. A clear indication of our move away from public finance for international fossil fuel projects can also spur more climate-friendly financing decisions in other international bodies such as multilateral development banks.

A transparent, open plan will also enable the United States to apply pressure to fossil fuel-financing countries such as China and Russia, which are glaringly absent from the list of Glasgow Statement signatories.

Markey's request--which is not his first such ask of Biden--came weeks after a report published by Oil Change International and Friends of the Earth U.S. revealing that Group of 20 member governments and multilateral development banks spent nearly twice as much financing international fossil fuel projects as they did on clean energy alternatives during a recent two-year period.