Sustainable Economic Systems
We aim to create a more environmentally sustainable and socially just world by transforming financial and economic systems. We work to redirect tax policies and public spending to make polluters pay for the costs of their pollution, and to drive the transition to a cleaner, low-carbon economy. At home and abroad, we advocate for policies that minimize environmental and social harm and fund a brighter future. In the United States, we strengthen regulations to encourage sustainability in financial markets and fight trade policies that allow companies to run roughshod over the environment and human rights. We also work with allies around the world to alter lending practices at financial institutions such as the World Bank, the U.S. Export-Import Bank and Wall Street banks that fund polluting activities and harm communities in developing countries.
Today the United States and 24 other countries and institutions from both developed and developing countries committed to end direct international public finance for unabated coal, oil and gas by the end of 2022 and prioritize clean energy finance.
NGOs this week launched a new database identifying the largest oil and gas expansionists as well as the companies responsible for the dirtiest and most controversial forms of oil and gas production.
A report released today by Friends of the Earth U.S. and Oil Change International reveals that from 2018 to 2020, USD 188 billion was provided for financing oil, gas, and coal projects by G20 nations.
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Sustainable Economic Systems Tell U.S. to terminate its involvement with a deadly coal plantTAKE ACTION
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Sustainable Economic Systems Stop your tax dollars from funding fossil fuel projects overseasTAKE ACTION
Americans have made it clear: We want a cleaner future. This means investing in sustainable and efficient renewable energy at home and abroad.
In recent years, powerful partisan interests have weaponized these tools to block environmental and social justice progress. In response, Friends of the Earth is working to reform our democracy so that every voice is heard, equally.
The U.S. government has spent more than $44 billion on fossil fuel projects overseas over the last decade.
EXIM continues to invest in projects with severe environmental impacts, human rights abuses, and detrimental effects on local communities and public health.
The headline finding is that from 2016 to 2018 G20 countries provided an average of USD $77 billion a year in public finance for fossil fuels.
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DownloadPast Last Call: G20 public finance institutions are still bankrolling fossil fuels
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Learn MoreFool’s Paradise: How Biodiversity Offsets Don’t Stop Biodiversity Loss
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DownloadCSO letter on ending international public finance for fossil fuels