Jim Barnes, in Bonn: 49-228-843-328
While G-8 leaders gather in Genoa, Italy, to discuss
reform of export credit agencies, a study by the Institute for
Policy Studies reveals that U.S. government-backed export credit
agencies (ECAs) are responsible for financing fossil fuel projects
that will emit the equivalent of two-thirds of annual U.S.
greenhouse gas emissions abroad each year.
The U.S. Export Import Bank
(Ex-Im) and U.S. Overseas
Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), using taxpayer money, have
approved financing for $28.4 billion in oil, gas and coal related
projects since 1992, projects which will lead to estimated emissions
of over 32.8 billion tons of carbon dioxide over their lifetimes.
The study is released as G-8 leaders gather in Genoa amid
unparalleled protests, and as climate negotiators gather in Bonn,
Germany, for international negotiations on climate change. In both cities, and at home in Washington, there is an
increasing level of frustration with American President George W.
Bush's withdrawal from the Kyoto Protocol, the international
agreement to combat global warming. Bush is being heavily
criticized:
1) in Washington, for an energy strategy for the U.S.
that emphasizes increased use of fossil fuels, while all but
ignoring energy conservation and renewable energy;
2) in Genoa, for his failure to endorse the
recommendations of the G-8's Renewable Energy Task Force, which
calls on the G-8 leaders to use their ECAs and other financial
mechanisms to steer more financial resources to renewable energy,
like solar and wind; and
3) in Bonn, for claiming his withdrawal from the Kyoto
Protocol is in part due to inaction by developing countries,
although developing countries have contributed a negligible amount
to the climate problem.
The IPS study adds a fourth reason for outrage: Each
year, two U.S. export credit agencies are subsidizing fossil fuel
projects in developing countries and economies in transition at an
annual rate of 1 billion tons of carbon (3.64 billion tons of carbon
dioxide) -- nearly two-thirds (66%) of the total emissions released
from within U.S. borders each year.
"Not only are we burning fossil fuels at an
unsustainable pace at home, we are nearly redoubling the U.S.'s
contribution to global warming with our investments abroad, "
said Daphne Wysham, a fellow with the Institute for Policy Studies
in Washington.
"In addition to fueling
climate change, these projects are devastating to the local environment,
impoverish the local populations, and often result in human rights
violations," said Christine
Bustany, a research associate with IPS, and co-author of the study.
"By financing billions of dollars in fossil fuel
projects abroad, then rejecting the G-8 Renewable Energy Task
Force's recommendations to rapidly increase our investments in
renewable energy, President Bush is becoming the 'Climate Pariah in
Chief,'" said Jim Barnes, IPS associate in Bonn, Germany.
Background
U.S. Ex-Im approved
$16,820,100,000 in financing of fossil fuel projects from
1992 to 2001. These oil, gas and coal projects will release 24.912
billion tons of CO2 over a 25- year period. OPIC approved
$11,595,700,000 in fossil fuel project financing since 1992; these
projects will release 10.232 billion tons of CO2. (The combined
total CO2 emissions is smaller than OPIC and Ex-Im individually, due
to several projects where both ECAs provide financing. These
projects are counted only once.) During the same time period, Ex-Im
backed $460 million toward 11 renewable energy projects. OPIC has
financed no renewable energy or energy efficiency projects.
Combined, since the Earth Summit in 1992, the two U.S. agencies
preferred fossil fuels to renewables by a 62 to 1 ratio.
A wide array of groups, including
IPS, World Wildlife
Fund, Greenpeace, and Friends of the Earth, and the ECA-Watch
Network, are unanimous in their support of the G-8 Renewable Energy
Task Force's recommendations, and of the need for greater investment
by Export Credit Agencies (ECAs) in renewable energy.
They are also harshly critical of its opponents, including
the US and Canada governments, which have rejected the package of
recommendations made by the Renewable Energy Task Force.
The G8 Renewable Energy Task Force, established at the
July 2000 G8 Summit in Okinawa,
proposed a comprehensive package of measures to promote
renewable energies. Key actions include: the adoption of renewable
energy target of serving at least 1 billion people with renewable
energy by 2010; the reform of IFIs and ECAs to increase funding for
renewable energies in developing countries; the phasing-out of G8
governmental subsidies for fossil fuels and nuclear energy, while
increasing R&D for renewable energies.
The G8 Renewable Energy Task Force was established in
2000 with a remit to identify actions that can be taken to promote a
step change in the supply, distribution and use of renewable energy
in developing countries. However, the US and Canada are trying to
block these recommendations. Specifically, the US opposes the target
of 1 billion people, while Canada opposes the phase-out of subsidies
to nuclear energy, identified as a key barrier to renewable energy
development.
For a recent report on OPIC and ExIm done
with Friends of the Earth, visit: http://www.seen.org/reports/oeordonl.shtml.
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