Initiative · Policy dialogue Active · convened by Perspectives

Export Credit Agencies

Paris alignment of export credit agencies and public export finance

Convening since2021
Climate solutionClimate Finance
Who takes partExport finance policymakers, researchers and civil society
Outputs26 publications and counting
Overview

Export credit agencies (ECAs) are either private companies operating on behalf of a country's government or public agencies themselves that provide support for the export of goods and services of national companies. They are the single largest group of internationally active public finance institutions supporting fossil fuel investments, and they remain an under-researched contributor to the lock-in of fossil fuel infrastructure. Reformed, they could play a decisive role in the global climate transition.

What this initiative works towards

A common yardstick

A transparent methodology to assess and compare individual export credit agencies and their governments on Paris alignment.

Country-by-country evidence

OECD country case studies that show where export finance stands and document best practice.

Reform of the export finance system

Feed results into policy discussions at the OECD and on national ECA policies, towards full Paris alignment.

Goal & vision

Official export finance support to fossil fuels is not compatible with the letter or the spirit of the Paris Agreement, and it remains a major barrier to the global transition towards a clean energy system. Perspectives' research identifies the remaining gaps in the Paris alignment of export finance and puts policy recommendations to export credit agencies around the world, their respective governments and civil society. Those recommendations feed the reform processes now under way at national and international level.

Perspectives' Paris alignment methodology for ECAs

Following an initial study on external and internal climate change policies for export credit and insurance agencies, in 2021 Perspectives Climate Research developed the first dedicated Paris alignment methodology for ECAs. The methodology permits the assessment and comparison of individual ECAs and their respective governments across five weighted dimensions underpinned by a total of 72 benchmark criteria: Transparency (financial and non-financial disclosures, 20%); Mitigation I (ambition of fossil fuel exclusion or restriction policies, 40%); Mitigation II (climate impact of and emission reduction targets for all activities, 20%); Climate finance (positive contribution to the global climate transition, 10%); and Engagement (outreach and pro-activeness of the ECA and its governments, 10%).

Key publications
Outreach
Media coverage
Convening, in practice

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