Six of the G20 countries including Canada, the US, the UK, Germany, France, and Italy joined by 33 other countries and institutions at COP26 in 2021, pledged to end international public finance for fossil fuels by the end of 2022, and instead prioritise public finance for clean energy.
Oil Change International’s newly updated implementation tracker has been monitoring signatory progress in fulfilling its Glasgow promise since it was made over a year ago.
However, with 2022 nearing its end, reports show that Germany, Italy, Canada and the United States, have yet to turn their pledge into action and are at risk of breaking their Glasgow promise as they continue to eye investments in gas, particularly for liquefied natural gas (LNG).
Although Canada has signalled it may release a new policy by the end of this week, it remains to be seen whether it will be fully Glasgow-aligned or it would not.
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Data from a recently published report from Oil Change International and Friends of the Earth U.S. on the latest international public finance for energy data from G20 countries’ development finance institutions (DFIs) and export credit agencies (ECAs) have shown that Germany, Italy, Canada and the US provided at least $18 billion per year in direct international public finance for fossil fuels between 2019-2021.
The analysis shows that in 2019-2021, these public finance institutions provided at least $55 billion per year in direct international public finance for oil, gas, and coal projects, an amount that was almost two times more than their support for clean energy, which averaged $29 billion per year.
The data also shows Japan, Canada, Korea, and China again provided the most direct public finance for fossil fuels between 2019 and 2021, with an annual average of $10.6 billion, $8.5 billion, $7.3 billion, and $6.7 billion respectively while they also remained in the top position for the entire 2013-2021 dataset.
The $30 billion a year, which is 53% of international public finance for fossil fuels, flowed to gas projects and it is larger than what any other energy type received from 2019 to 2021 and greater than all renewable energy finance combined.
Most fossil fuel finance flowed from wealthy countries to other wealthy countries. Mozambique was the only low-income country in the top 15 recipients, and 12 were high or upper-middle-income countries.
If all G20 countries and MDBs fully shift their international fossil support to clean energy it would nearly triple their current annual average for clean energy to $85 billion.
To reach this total, other large G20 providers of public finance, including Japan, South Korea, and China, will need to join their peers as Glasgow Statement signatories and meet the new commitment.
Story was adapted from environnewsnigeria.
