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glasgow statement
Despite Global Pledge, US Still Pouring Public Money Into Fossil Fuel Projects Abroad
"The U.S., Italy, and Germany are going rogue by backtracking on their commitment to end international public finance for fossil fuels," said one analyst. "There needs to be accountability."
Sep 07, 2023
Amid a worsening climate emergency and preparations for a pair of United Nations summits to tackle it, an analysis released Wednesday called out multiple countries including the United States for continuing to dump a collective $4.4 billion into fossil fuel projects abroad after pledging to stop such public financing by the end of last year.
Oil Change International (OCI) found that the United States, Finland, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, and Switzerland have more than 20 fossil fuel projects awaiting final approval and 15 approved projects. Four U.S.-financed projects in Indonesia, Poland, Singapore, and South Africa are already approved and getting $1.5 billion.
Six other U.S.-backed projects—located in the Bahamas, Bahrain, Bulgaria, Guyana, Iraq, and Papua New Guinea—are still pending. There are also two approved liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects located in the United States but with a total of $472 million in German financing along with a pending U.S.-based project supported by Japan.
Germany also has an approved project in Bangladesh and pending projects in Brazil, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Iraq, and Uzbekistan. Japan has approved projects in India, Indonesia, and Uzbekistan, and pending projects in Brazil, Jamaica, and Russia. Italy has approved projects in Indonesia, Peru, and Uzbekistan and pending projects in Brazil, Mozambique, Turkey, and Vietnam.
"Enough is Enough! No more sacrifice zones, no more fossil fuels—we refuse to be sacrificed!"
This financing is occuring despite the Statement on International Public Support for the Clean Energy Transition—often called the Glasgow Statement because it came out of the COP26 summit in Scotland—and a similar Group of Seven commitment. OCI, which has previously blasted "promise breakers" for neglecting these pledges, noted that "while the U.S. has reportedly adopted a policy to follow through on its commitments to end international public finance for fossil fuels, it is refusing to publish it."
OCI public finance analyst Claire O'Manique declared Wednesday that "the U.S., Italy, and Germany are going rogue by backtracking on their commitment to end international public finance for fossil fuels. Public money that should be going to support a just transition to renewable energy is instead being pumped into more climate-wrecking fossil fuel projects, harming communities."
"Other countries have kept their promise to end international public finance for fossil fuels," she stressed. "This is already shifting billions of dollars towards clean energy. There needs to be accountability for signatories who go back on their word."
Frontline community leaders also spoke out. Center for Environmental Law and Community Rights executive director Peter Bosip said: "The people of Papua New Guinea are already facing the full force of climate change. Rising sea levels, extreme weather events, and environmental degradation are already threatening many people's existence and threatening our way of life. Papua LNG will add to and exacerbate this climate crisis—and financiers cannot, and should not, finance it."
Anabela Lemos, director of Justiça Ambiental in Mozambique, charged that "rich countries are addicted to fossil fuels" and emphasized the importance of fighting against oil and gas projects.
"If there isn't a strong backlash, the rest [of the world] will follow soon and then there will be no chance for vulnerable countries like Mozambique to deal with the ravages of the climate crisis," Lemos warned. "Instead of supporting Mozambique to develop clean and just energy sources, these countries are pushing Mozambique down a fossil fuel development pathway."
The campaigner took aim at the Italian export credit finance agency, Servizi Assicurativi del Commercio Estero (SACE), for its involvement in "the gas rush in northern Mozambique, which has led to human rights abuses, devastated lives, increased conflict and militarization, and oppression of communities, journalists, and civil society."
Meanwhile, in the U.S. state of Texas, John Beard of the Port Arthur Community Action Network urged Germany "to stand with us against fossil fuels."
"By investing in Port Arthur LNG, Germany is investing in yet another destructive project in a community that is already overwhelmed by the deadly and toxic pollution of the fossil fuel industry," Beard said. "While the industry and shareholders will get rich, Port Arthur LNG will heap more destruction upon a predominantly black and brown community already facing cancer rates over two times higher average."
"Our relatives and friends are dying daily from heart, lung, and kidney diseases caused by industrial pollution. But the people of the Gulf are fighting back!" he added. "Enough is Enough! No more sacrifice zones, no more fossil fuels—we refuse to be sacrificed! We will keep fighting to accelerate the transition to clean green renewables."
The OCI analysis came as scientists confirmed that this summer has been the hottest on record and last year greenhouse gas concentrations, sea level, and ocean heat content hit historic highs. It was also published amid preparation for U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres' Climate Ambition Summit in New York City beginning September 20.
Ahead of the summit, climate campaigners plan to descend on the U.S. city for the September 17 March to End Fossil Fuels, which is backed by 500 groups including OCI. The mobilization and meeting this month will be followed in November by COP28, the next U.N. conference for parties to the Paris climate agreement, hosted by the United Arab Emirates.
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Critics Warn G20's LNG Subsidies Killing Hope for Livable Future
"There is no time for so-called transition fuels, when fossil fuel dependency is exacerbating the climate and energy crises, and fossil fuel projects are harming communities and the environment," warned one campaigner.
Apr 05, 2023
Despite pledging to take action on the climate emergency, including by ending international fossil fuel financing, Group of 20 governments continue to pour billions of dollars into gas infrastructure expansion, according to an analysis released Wednesday.
"Oil Change International (OCI) finds that G20 government institutions were involved in financing 82% of new liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminal capacity built from 2012-22," states the group's new report, highlighting at least $78 billion in public financing.
"Of the $234.6 billion total capital expenditure for the LNG export terminals built in the last decade, loans from international public finance institutions made up at least 24% of the total ($55.2 billion)," the report explains. "On top of this, these institutions provided $22.4 billion in equity investments and loan guarantees to insure against potential losses for other financiers."
The 17 completed projects included in the analysis have locked 928 megatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) each year, comparable to "the annual emissions of 423 coal-fired power plants, nearly two times the annual emissions of Canada, or over three times the annual emissions of France."
OCI's briefing warns that another dozen projects expected to be completed by 2026 would generate an additional 654 megatonnes of yearly planet-heating pollution, or about the annual emissions of Germany—as climate scientists and energy experts emphasize the need to swiftly end the world's fossil fuel era.
"These shocking figures show that laggard countries need to catch up with leading governments and urgently change course to stop pumping taxpayers' money into gas projects that are wrecking our climate, leave the energy crisis unsolved, and will end up as stranded assets."
"These shocking figures show that laggard countries need to catch up with leading governments and urgently change course to stop pumping taxpayers' money into gas projects that are wrecking our climate, leave the energy crisis unsolved, and will end up as stranded assets," asserted OCI public finance strategist Adam McGibbon.
At $39.7 billion, Japan leads the world in public financing for LNG export capacity 2012-26, followed by China ($25.4 billion) and the United States ($15.5 billion). Rounding out the top 10 "worst offenders" are South Korea, Russia, Italy, Germany, France, Australia, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands.
During the COP26 climate summit in Scotland two years ago, the United States, Italy, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands were among the 39 countries and institutions that signed the Glasgow Statement, agreeing to cut off financing for new international fossil fuel projects by the end of last year and instead invest in clean energy.
Japan initially held out, but under pressure from its fellow Group of Seven countries, ultimately agreed to the pledge last May. However, in July, at the urging of Germany and Italy, the G7 watered down its members' commitments specifically on gas.
With Japan set to host a G7 summit in Hiroshima next month, the nation's "leadership in the expansion of LNG development is the exact opposite of what we need," OCI campaigner Makiko Arima declared Wednesday. "Japan needs to take last year's G7 commitment to end public finance for fossil fuels seriously and stop funding gas projects."
"There is no time for so-called transition fuels, when fossil fuel dependency is exacerbating the climate and energy crises, and fossil fuel projects are harming communities and the environment," Arima added. "G7 countries need to do much more than make climate commitments that they break."
\u201c\ud83d\udea8NEW: Japan, China, Korea, and the US are the biggest culprits for backing new LNG export capacity with public money \ud83d\udcb5 It\u2019s time for G20 countries to #StopFundingFossils & shift to clean: https://t.co/WqHnM3JVut\u201d— Oil Change International (@Oil Change International) 1680691434
While the United States, Australia, and Russia top the list of counties, by emissions, where publicly financed LNG products were built in the past decade or are now underway, they are followed by nations that aren't the "worst offenders" in terms of funding: Mozambique, Canada, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, and Mexico.
As Common Dreams has reported, civil society groups across Africa have argued in recent months that "rather than doubling down on the obsolete and dirty energy systems," the African Union must "move away from harmful fossil fuels towards a transformed energy system that is clean, renewable, democratic, and actually serves its peoples."
Anabela Lemos, director of Justica Ambiental!/Friends of the Earth Mozambique, echoed that argument Wednesday.
While Global North nations, "the culprits creating the climate crisis, benefit from this gas," it is the Global South "who will suffer," Lemos stressed, noting that "Mozambique has been hit by four cyclones within three years that have displaced over 1 million people."
"The gas industry in Mozambique is devastating the country's climate, people, environment, and economy," she said. "Even though gas has been produced in Mozambique for decades, still only 30% of people have electricity access, and in Inhambane Province, where Sasol has been extracting gas for 20 years, displaced communities have seen no benefits."
"Northern governments and their companies involved in the Mozambique LNG Project in Cabo Delgado Province are complicit in forcing the already debt-ridden country into a fossil fuel lock-in, and pushing people into further poverty, by taking away their livelihoods and fueling a war that has created 1 million refugees," Lemos added.
Given the impacts of export terminals on both the climate and the communities around such facilities, OCI's report concludes with recommendations that include ending domestic subsidies and permits for fossil fuel development, scaling up finance for clean energy, and providing debt cancellation, climate finance, and loss and damage support for the Global South.
"To meet their climate obligations, governments should stop funding LNG expansion," said McGibbon. "In addition, those countries that have not already done so should join the Glasgow Statement initiative to show they are serious about solving the climate and energy security crises. Anything less is just hot air."
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'Promise Breakers': Report Exposes Rich Nations Failing to End Fossil Fuel Financing
"While the Glasgow Statement is a success story that's having a real-world impact in shifting finance away from fossil fuels, some countries like the U.S., Germany, and Italy have broken their promise," said a lead author.
Mar 15, 2023
A report released Wednesday by Oil Change International reveals that while the Glasgow Statement is already shifting billions of dollars from fossil fuels to clean energy around the world, some rich nations are still failing to live up to promises made under the 2021 agreement.
During COP26—the United Nations climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland—34 countries and five public finance institutions vowed to cut off financing for new international fossil fuel projects by the end of 2022 and instead invest that money in clean power.
"Our research shows that while the Glasgow Statement is a success story that's having a real-world impact in shifting finance away from fossil fuels, some countries like the U.S., Germany, and Italy have broken their promise," said Oil Change International (OCI) public finance strategist Adam McGibbon, a lead author of the report.
The report—entitled Promise Breakers: Assessing the impact of compliance with the Glasgow Statement commitment to end international public finance for fossil fuels—states that "out of 16 signatories that provide significant international public finance for energy, eight have new or existing policies that broadly meet the promise they made in Glasgow (Canada, the European Investment Bank, the United Kingdom, France, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, and New Zealand)."
"True leaders do not blink when faced with a global climate crisis."
While those actions are expected to shift $5.7 billion from fossil fuels to clean energy annually, the report suggests that another $13.7 billion could be added if the countries who have failed to enact such policies and those "with below-Glasgow policies" did more to cut fossil fuel funding.
The nations with policies that are updated but still not in line with the Glasgow statement are Belgium, Spain, Switzerland, and the Netherlands. Those identified by OCI as in breach of the 2021 deal are Germany, Italy, Portugal, and the United States.
"During the 2020 presidential election, Joe Biden promised to end U.S. support for dirty energy projects abroad," the report highlights. "The Biden administration has taken the unusual step of developing a policy in response to the Glasgow Statement for its bilateral financing agencies but not making it public, even at the request of members of Congress."
After noting a diplomatic cable revealed in December 2021, the report calls on the administration to "release a public interagency guidelines that (a) bars new public fossil fuel support with no exemptions for gas projects and (b) closes the potential widely defined loophole for projects with 'national security' implications that appeared in the leaked memo."
Kate DeAngelis, international finance program manager at Friends of the Earth U.S., echoed that demand for transparency.
"The United States has long claimed to be a world leader in climate action, yet fails to back this up with meaningful action or policy," she said. "U.S. agencies like the U.S. Export-Import Bank and U.S. International Development Finance Corporation continue to be piggy banks for fossil fuel projects from Mexico to South Africa to Indonesia, as these nations suffer from climate change."
"President Biden must make his administration's policy public, which would catalyze other countries to stop providing billions of dollars to polluting projects all over the world," DeAngelis added. "True leaders do not blink when faced with a global climate crisis."
Meanwhile, the report details that not only has Italy declined to publish any Glasgow Statement policies but also the government recently "attempted to weaken a ministerial statement by 10 European governments to stop export credit support for fossil fuel projects" and its export credit agency SACE—which financed €13.7 billion ($14.45 billion) in fossil fuels from 2016-21—is continuing to consider major international projects.
Simone Ogno, climate and finance campaigner at ReCommon, pointed to some specific projects, saying Wednesday that "through its export credit agency SACE, Italy has become the first European fossil fuel financier, enabling the development of strategic oil and gas projects for the Russian Federation, not to mention LNG projects in Mozambique and oil refineries in Egypt."
Germany also has not only failed to put out a policy, but also "is engaged in a 'dash for gas,' including pursuing controversial gas development in Senegal and exploring gas deals with Qatar, the United States, and Iraq," the report says.
"Instead of providing gigantic sums of public funds for fossil fuel projects that are incompatible with the Paris agreement, we urge German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to ensure that the Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau adheres to the Glasgow Statement," declared Constantin Zerger, head of energy and climate protection at the Deutsche Umwelthilfe, referring to the nation's public bank.
"The government-owned development bank needs to officially commit that it will end its support for financial fossil fuel projects abroad and in Germany," Zerger charged. "Chancellor Scholz, it is time to become a real climate leader!"
Rather than featuring a section on Portugal like the other "promise breakers," the report calls out the country for "particularly low data transparency" and says its process for developing a policy related to the Glasgow Statement is "unclear."
While the new report takes aim at the "promise breakers," it also stresses that "all signatories must still do more to meet the parallel commitment to 'prioritize support fully towards the clean energy transition' whilst 'do[ing] no significant harm' to the goals of the Paris agreement, local communities, and local environments."
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