Congress must stop Export-Import Bank from financing fossil fuel projects abroad
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The House Financial Services Committee today held a hearing on the reauthorization of the Export-Import Bank, the U.S. government’s official export credit agency. If reauthorization is approved by Congress, the Ex-Im Bank could provide tens of billions of dollars in financing for climate-damaging fossil fuel projects around the world.
The Ex-Im Bank’s authorization expires on Sept. 30, 2019.
In response to the hearing, Doug Norlen, economic policy program director at Friends of the Earth, issued the following statement:
As Congress considers the reauthorization of Ex-Im Bank, it is a rare opportunity to restrict U.S. financing of fossil fuel projects overseas. Any reauthorization must place a moratorium on the billions of dollars in support the bank provides for coal, oil and gas projects around the world.
Renewed Ex-Im Bank financing for fossil fuels will enable projects that emit tens of millions of tons of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, worsen the climate crisis, damage ecosystems and pollute local communities. The bank’s projects have already harmed human health, led to human rights abuses and spawned corruption, all while failing to address the energy needs of the poor.
Taking action on the climate crisis means putting a stop to the environmental damage caused by Ex-Im Bank’s financing for overseas fossil fuel projects.
Expert contact: Doug Norlen, (510) 900-3143, [email protected]
Communications contact: Patrick Davis, (202) 222-0744, [email protected]