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FERN works towards EU trade and investment policies that do not subsidise climate change and ensure strict financing rules are in place for institutions such as Export Credit Agencies. 

FERN’s analysis: Despite the EU’s claim that it is a leader in halting climate change, its trade and investment policies are in fact worsening the situation. Among the most damaging institutioins supported by EU policies are Export credit agencies (ECAs) and the European Investment Bank who continue to finance destructive activities and the fossil fuel industry to the tune of millions. Nearly 10 per cent of world exports are supported by ECAs, approximately twice the world’s total overseas development assistance.

What FERN is doing: FERN is analysing EU finance and investment's impacts on forests and the climate in order to show its incoherence with the EU's climate policy to keep global warming below 2C and make it accountable to its own climate policies. FERN is also facilitating the European ECA Reform Campaign, bringing together a coalition of organisations from across Europe with the goal of achieving environmental and social standards for EU-based ECAs.

To learn more about this campaign: see www.eca-watch.org, the report Exporting Destruction. Export credits, illegal logging and deforestation and the book Why Investment Matters.

Most recent publications

Member State compliance with Article 21 of the Lisbon Treaty

September 6, 2012

On 6 August 2012, ECA Watch and the European Coalition for Corporate Justice sent a letter to the President of the Commission Jose Manuel Barroso requesting a meeting to discuss how the Commission intends to monitor Member State compliance with Article 21 of the Lisbon Treaty and how NGOs can be involved in the elaboration of an appropriate compliance framework

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ECA Watch_ECCJ_letter_Commissioner_08_2012.pdf199.22 KB

Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) default on its obligations to Export Credit Agencies

June 11, 2012

Press release launched on the day that more than 30 European non governmental organisations (NGOs)  delivered a letter calling on governments not to fund a new pulp mill proposed by Asia Pulp and Paper (APP), one of the world's most controversial pulp and paper companies. The plant is planned to be build in Sumatra, Indonesia where APP is estimated to have already pulped more than two million hectares of natural rainforests.

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APP defaults with ECAs.pdf943.83 KB
MEDIA RELEASE Europe Must Stop Funding Forest Destruction.pdf114.42 KB

Giving human rights credit: EU countries agree to toughen export loan scrutiny

June 29, 2011

A press release from ECA-Wach, Amnesty International and Eurodad. It welcomes EU permanent representatives' endorsement of the European Parliament’s proposal to make national export credit agencies (ECAs) more accountable for the support they give companies doing business around the world. The three organisations believe this move will increase transparency and human rights compliance and  hope that this will trigger more ambitious reforms in EU capitals, leading to a general reform in global ECA standards.

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ECAs Press Release 290611-1.pdf23.09 KB

Financing nuclear times

June 7, 2011

This newspaper style publication is available in hard copy from info@fern.org. It outlines the history of Export Credit Agencies' support for the nuclear industry and concludes by detailing the destructive projects still in the pipeline.

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financing nuclear times_web version.pdf5.8 MB

Export Credit Agencies’ funding of disastrous nuclear projects put in the spotlight at G20 meeting

June 7, 2011

A press release launched on  the opening day of a meeting of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) Nuclear Energy Agency. It explains how Export Credit Agency (ECA) support for the nuclear industry has increased the burden on indebted nations, fuelled the India, Pakistan arms race and continues to prop up a non financially viable industry. 

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funding nuclear times.pdf162.51 KB

European Parliament demands that Export Credit Agencies open up

April 6, 2011

This press release by ECA-Watch outlines the importance of the European Parliament’s adoption of a proposal to regulate Export Credit Agencies (ECAs). This move will make ECAs more transparent on where their funds come from and go to, as well as how they charge for social and environmental risks. Furthermore, the Parliament requires ECAs to comply with EU human rights objectives in their activities, and to phase out the subsidising of fossil fuel projects in line with commitments adopted by the G20 in 2009.

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press release export credit legislation.pdf489.43 KB

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