Green groups call for transparency

▶ Rich countries sweat for funding ‘ bridge fuel’ gas overseas

Pressure on wealthy governments to stop financing polluting coal projects in developing nations is getting results, with more countries expected to announce this week and in coming months that they will no longer provide money for coal.

But the battle is far from won – and is now shifting to include oil and gas finance, climate change campaigners say.

Britain has led the way among major donors, saying it would provide no new government financing for fossil fuel projects overseas from April, with “very limited” exceptions. The US is also preparing to announce restrictions, possibly at the Leaders Summit on Climate organized by US President Joe Biden on Thursday and Friday.

South Korea, Japan and

Canada could soon join them, and a handful of European nations, in pledging to phase out overseas aid for coal, climate finance experts said ahead of Biden’s virtual gathering.

US environmentalists, however, are less hopeful about US action than in January when climate envoy John Kerry told the World Economic Forum the Biden administration would produce a plan to end international financing for fossil fuel projects.

In early April, 57 US green groups wrote to Kerry urging him to “unequivocally declare that gas is not part of the solution” and to immediately end all fossil fuel support internationally as well as US exports of fossil fuels “as science and justice require.”

The move came after Kerry told a discussion with the head of the International Monetary Fund in April that “gas, to some degree, will be a bridge fuel,” meaning it could smooth the transition from the dirtiest energy sources – coal and oil – to renewables.

Kate DeAngelis, international finance program manager for Friends of the Earth, told Reuters Kerry’s comments were “jarring” and suggested the US planned to continue providing funding for gas projects in places like sub- Saharan Africa.

“I think they are taking a very conservative approach which is just 10 steps back from what they had... laid out in January,” she said.

She and other campaigners say the details are crucial on commitments on overseas fossil fuel funding and that donors must spell out clearly which fuels and state agencies are covered by their promises, as well as setting near- term deadlines.

Export finance and development agencies on both sides of the Atlantic, meanwhile, are keen to stress their backing to expand renewable energy in poor countries.

UK Export Finance, the government’s export credit agency, said this week it provided over 2.4 billion pounds ($ 3.3 billion) of financial support to “sustainable projects” in 2020, including hospitals, clean energy and critical infrastructure in developing nations.