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 the report Exporting Destruction. Export credits, illegal logging and deforestation and the book Why Investment Matters.
Member States' Export Credit Agencies (ECAs) are undermining EU climate objectives by providing billions of euros worth of support for highly carbon-intensive projects and "techno-fixes" masquerading as environmental solutions. This new report highlights the most controversial recent agreements signed by ECAs, provides estimated figures of European Union export credit guarantees and shows how ECA financing favours export and investments that disproportionately benefit energy and carbon-intensive industries.
With the onset of the global financial crisis and the subsequent squeeze in credit and insurance markets, there is a renewed global demand for export credit and investment insurance products offered by ECAs.