Full Title: Past Last Call: G20 Public Finance Institutions are Still Bankrolling Fossil Fuels
Author(s): Bronwen Tucker, Kate DeAngelis, Laurie van der Burg
Publisher(s): Oil Change International, Friends of the Earth U.S.
Publication Date: October 28, 2021
Full Text: Download Resource
Description (excerpt):
Our new report “Past Last Call: G20 public finance institutions are still bankrolling fossil fuels” looks at G20 country and MDB public finance for fossil fuels from 2018-2020 for the first time and finds they are still backing at least USD 63 billion per year in oil, gas, and coal projects. This was 2.5 times greater than their $26 billion a year in support for renewable energy in the same period.
This continued support for fossil fuels from trade and development finance institutions counters G20 countries’ commitments under the Paris Agreement to align financial flows with a safe climate future as well as their 2009 commitment to phase out fossil fuel subsidies. It also undermines the effectiveness of climate finance, which is still not delivered at either the scale promised ($100 billion per year from 2020) or needed. Public finance has an outsized impact on global energy systems, providing below-market rates and decreasing financial risks that make projects much more likely to go forward — something that is increasingly influential as the industry faces unprecedented global headwinds. Recognizing this impact, most G20 countries have ended support for coal or will by the end of 2021. Some momentum is now building to end public finance for oil and gas as well, with the UK and European Investment Bank (EIB) passing policies that limit almost all of this remaining fossil fuel finance. COP26 is an important opportunity for other countries around the world to join them.