Trade and Investment

Trade and Investment: Briefing note

Export Credit Agencies and Climate Change: a briefing for Cancun

December 2, 2010

After the collapse of UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) talks in Copenhagen in December 2009, the future financial architecture for funding climate change mitigation and adaptation continues to be fiercely debated. At the 2010 climate summit in Cancun, Mexico, the issue will again be on the table for negotiation.

In Cancun, the role of public and private finance will be considered, and thus the role of export credit agencies (ECAs). ECAs sit at the nexus of public and private finance, and may become increasingly important. Many ECAs support billions of dollars worth of exports to fossil-fuel projects which emit greenhouse gases. ECA financing for fossil fuels eclipses ECA financing for climate-friendly technologies.

This briefing outlines the negative impact of ECA fossil fuel financing. The paper also raises the question of whether ECAs have a role to play in contributing to “climate finance.”

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Export credit agencies and climate change.pdf	405.34 KB

Avoiding solutions: How Export Credit Agencies help companies that continue to evade tax

September 17, 2009

This briefing note shows the folly of G-20 plans to increase ECAs’ capacity without ensuring they bring in regulations aimed at halting their support for companies that take advantage of tax avoidance loopholes such as offshore financial centres. It ends with a series of recommendations for ensuring ECAs are held to government policies.

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Avoiding solutions.pdf	756.15 KB

From Rome to Lisbon: a guide to the EU and its role in developing trade and investment agreements

August 23, 2009

Liberalising investments with the aim of opening markets appears to be incompatible with sustainable development of resource-based activities. FERN has therefore published a briefing note, “From Rome to Lisbon,” a guide to the EU’s investment strategy. The guide explores the EU’s controversial role in developing investment provisions in the free trade agreements it concludes with third countries.

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from rome to lisbon.pdf	941.36 KB

Export Credit Debt. How ECA support to corporations indebts the world's poor

June 10, 2008

This briefing note by Both ENDS and FERN highlights the fairly hidden role of Export Credit Agencies (ECAs) in the debt problems of many developing countries. It explains how export credit debt comes about, and clarifies how the cancellation of export credit debt is written off with Official Development Assistance (ODA) money. It concludes with suggestions about how ECAs should change, in order to become coherent with international efforts to reduce poverty through sustainable development.

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OPEN	451.62 KB

Bankrolling Climate Change: Why it is time to end Hermes flights of fancy

June 4, 2008

While the threat of climate change and the urgent need for action become ever clearer, air transport and other polluting industries are expanding on a massive scale. Supposed green pioneers such as Germany are supporting the trade with public money it hands out through its export credit agency Hermes AG. This joint briefing note by urgewald and FERN focuses on these contradictions and looks for a way out of a system that speaks of concern about climate change whilst funding some of its biggest causes.

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OPEN	658.34 KB

The Ilisu Dam Project: Europe's money would move Turkey away from the acquis communautaire

September 27, 2006

At the beginning of October 2006, three European export credit agencies are expected to decide whether or not to finance one of the world's most controversial infrastructure projects. Going ahead with the project would mean displacing tens of thousands of people, destroying a significant cultural heritage, and increasing the potential for seroius conflict over water resources in the Middle East. The project also utterly fails to meet EU social and environmental standards - thereby moving accession candidate Turkey away from the EU acquis.

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OPEN	1.18 MB

ECAs and the Licence to Finance: Consultation, Participation and the OECD's Recommendation on Common Approaches

September 15, 2006

This paper by Nick Hildyard of the Corner House gives recommendations on how to address deficiencies in current ECA policy with regard to consultation and participation and argues that affected communities and indigenous peoples must be recognized as rights holders in the decsion-making process.

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OPEN	925.37 KB

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