October, 30 2023, 08:08am EDT
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Over 250 organizations back groundbreaking efforts by OECD countries to end $41 billion a year in fossil fuel finance
- Proposal could end USD 41 billion per year flowing from government-run Export Credit Agencies to fossil fuels, and free it up for clean energy instead
As Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) delegates prepare to meet in Paris from November 6-10, over 250 civil society organizations (CSOs) from 30 countries published an open letter calling on negotiators to support an end to OECD export finance for fossil fuels. Signatories include Amnesty International, Greenpeace International, and Friends of the Earth International.
The Financial Times (FT) has revealed that the UK and the EU will put forward proposals for doing so, with Canada planning to back the UK’s proposal. These efforts can end the USD 41 billion per year flowing to fossil fuel projects from government-run OECD export credit agencies (ECAs).
The OECD Arrangement on Officially Supported Export Credits sets rules that all OECD country ECAs must follow. OECD countries have previously placed extensive restrictions on the financing of coal, and civil society is now calling on restrictions to cover oil and gas too. Ending OECD oil and gas support is critical to limit global heating to 1.5°C. The International Energy Agency (IEA) has established that no new coal, oil, fossil gas supply or LNG infrastructure investments are compatible with a 1.5°C warming limit.
The proposal is expected to attract significant support, since over 50% of OECD countries already signed on to the Clean Energy Transition Partnership (CETP), an international commitment forged in Glasgow in 2021 under which signatories promised to end their international public finance for fossil fuels by the end of 2022 and support efforts to advance this agenda elsewhere, “in particular at the OECD.”
The civil society letter, addressed to CETP signatory country negotiators in the OECD, calls on them to live up to their commitment and support the UK’s and the EU’s efforts to end public finance for fossil fuels. Canada is already planning to do so. According to the Financial Times, Canada’s finance department stated it “looked forward to working alongside like-minded partners at the OECD and in other international forums to grow and promote the clean economy around the world”.
Oil Change International research shows that OECD ECAs provided an average of $41 billion per year in export support to fossil fuels between 2018 and 2020, almost five times more than their clean energy export finance ($8.5 billion). This directly contradicts international climate goals, including the CETP and the Paris Agreement objective to align financial flows with the low-carbon energy transition. OECD ECAs are particularly responsible for advancing large fossil fuel infrastructure projects that enable the rest of the industry, for example investing in 56 percent of new hazardous liquified gas (LNG) export terminal capacity built in the last decade (providing at least $81 billion total).
The initial OECD proposal is expected to kick-off a period of negotiations on oil and gas export finance restrictions at the OECD starting on 6 November. These negotiations will succeed only if and when a large enough number of OECD members support the proposed restrictions. By doing so, OECD members have a historic opportunity to not only avoid breaching climate goals, but also stranded fossil fuel assets.
Nina Pusic, Strategist at Oil Change International, said: “This is the moment where OECD countries can turn their words into action. Will they live up to the pledge most of them made in Glasgow in 2021 to end international public finance for fossil fuels at the OECD? All eyes are on them, the world is watching. Immediate action is necessary to align global financial flows with a habitable climate future, and this November represents a critical opportunity that we can’t afford to miss.”
Kate DeAngelis, Senior International Finance Program Manager at Friends of the Earth United States, said: “We have waited long enough for the United States, and other wealthy historical emitters, to be a force for good at the OECD. The U.S. must turn away from its multi-billion dollar fossil financing and support the UK and Canada proposal, leading the push to finally end export credit agency support for fossil fuels.”
Yuki Tanabe, Program Director at Japan Center for a Sustainable Environment and Society (JACSES), said: “Japan should not be a blocker at the OECD negotiations and should agree to end its public finance for fossil fuel projects. Ammonia and hydrogen co-firing should not be exempted as ‘abatement’ technologies, since the current co-firing development roadmap is not in line with the Paris goals”
Samuel Okulony, Chief Executive Officer at Environment Governance Institute Uganda (EGI), said: “The impacts of climate change in Africa are a matter of life and death, and Japan, Korea and other OECD countries should listen to the lived realities of global south communities, who have been devastated by the impacts of climate change for decades. It is imperative that these countries make resolute commitments, support a resolution to stop public financing for fossil fuels at the OECD, and demand the global community align itself with the commitments to keep the 1.5°C target alive.”
Oil Change International is a research, communications, and advocacy organization focused on exposing the true costs of fossil fuels and facilitating the ongoing transition to clean energy.
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A televised Oval Office screaming match between U.S. and Ukrainian leaders on Friday led to politicians worldwide reaffirming support for Ukraine, congressional Democrats decrying the Trump administration, and human rights advocates expressing alarm about what lies ahead.
U.S. President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance took turns berating Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who reportedly left the White House without plans for a cease-fire or a rare minerals deal with the United States, which has put nearly $183 billion toward help Ukraine respond to the 2022 Russian invasion.
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Despite the incident at the White House, Zelenskyy also said: "Thank you America, thank you for your support, thank you for this visit. Thank you President Donald Trump, Congress, and the American people. Ukraine needs just and lasting peace, and we are working exactly for that."
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Congresswoman Delia Ramirez (D-Ill.) slammed the U.S. leaders' subservience to the Russian president, charging that "there is no clearer evidence that Trump and Vance kiss the ring of Vladimir Putin than today's meeting with President Zelenskyy."
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Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) denounced their behavior as "disgusting and damaging," while Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) opted for "shameful and dangerous." She added that "Donald Trump is treating the destruction of a democracy as a political show—throwing Ukraine to the wolves and doing a favor for Putin."
Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) similarly said that "the United States doesn't support Ukraine as a favor, but because it serves our security. Putin is a dictator, not Zelenskyy. Putin started the war, not Zelenskyy. Yelling in the Oval Office and siding with Putin is shameful and a danger to democracy around the world."
Andrew Albertson, executive director of Foreign Policy for America—which was founded after Trump's first win and is largely aligned with the Democratic Party—said in a Friday statement that "in capitals around the world, our closest allies are expressing tonight their shock and dismay at what they witnessed from an American president in the Oval Office."
"Once again," Albertson said, "we saw two things from President Trump: his bizarre affinity for the murderous dictator Vladimir Putin and Trump's grotesque willingness to make even this—Ukraine's fight for survival in the face of Russia's unconscionable invasion—about himself, turning a White House meeting into something we would expect from a reality TV show."
Amnesty International USA said on social media that "nothing that was said today in the Oval Office changes the facts: Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine was an act of aggression and a manifest violation of the U.N. Charter. Sustainable peace in Ukraine is only possible through justice and accountability for all crimes under international law committed since 2014."
Kenneth Roth, a former executive director of Human Rights Watch who's now a visiting professor at Princeton University, called out Vance over berating Zelenskyy for "daring to exercise his free speech rights before the American media," and Trump for "making life-and-death decisions based on his fragile ego."
"Because Ukraine's President Zelenskyy didn't immediately kiss the 'king's' ring, Trump threatens to abandon Ukraine's democracy to Putin's predation," he said. "Trump seems to be so accustomed to sycophants that he becomes outraged when Zelenskyy has the audacity to argue back. Zelenskyy rightly points out that Putin has already breached prior agreements. Why would this one be different without security guarantees?"
"Trump pretends to miss the point," Roth added. "Zelenskyy is perfectly 'ready for peace.' But he wants peace that will last, not a pause in the fighting that will enable Putin to rearm and reinvade. That requires a U.S. security guarantee that Trump refuses to provide."
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The battle in Ukraine over the past three years has elevated global fears of a world war and the potential use of nuclear weapons. Of the nine nations with nukes, Russia and the United States have the largest arsenals.
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As Palestinians released from Israeli imprisonment recount torture and other abuse suffered at the hands of their former captors, the Trump administration on Friday approved a new $3 billion weapons package for Israel.
The new package, reported by Zeteo's Prem Thakker, includes nearly $2.716 billion worth of bombs and weapons guidance kits, as well as $295 million in bulldozers. The Trump administration said that "an emergency exists that requires the immediate sale," allowing it to bypass Congress, as the Biden administration did on multiple occasions. However, the weapons won't be delivered until 2026 or 2027.
The Trump-Vance State Department just approved $3.01 billion in arms & equipment sales to Israel $2.04 billion in bombs $675.7 million in bombs & weapon guidance kits $295 million in bulldozers Administration said "an emergency exists that requires the immediate sale," waiving congressional review
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— Prem Thakker ツ ( @premthakker.bsky.social) February 28, 2025 at 4:56 PM
From October 2023 to October 2024, Israel received a record $17.9 billion worth of U.S. arms as it waged a war of annihilation against the Gaza Strip that left more than 170,000 Palestinians dead, maimed, or missing and millions more displaced, starved, or sickened. Israel is facing genocide allegations in an International Court of Justice case brought by South Africa. The International Criminal Court has also issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
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