Amidst a climate emergency, why is EDC lending hundreds of millions of dollars to Enbridge, whose projects will unlock expanded fossil fuel production? In response to correspondence asking this question, EDC has said very little.
Under a government policy adopted to fulfill an international climate commitment, EDC should provide no new support for most fossil fuel development abroad. We’ve worked with the Environmental Law Centre to develop a model regulation that would make this policy legally binding, and extend the same restrictions to EDC’s domestic fossil fuel finance.
“You cannot have public money anywhere near this industry anymore.” This was the message delivered to lawmakers by an expert panel examining how Canada is backing relentless expansion of the oil and gas industry, at an event last month on Parliament Hill.
Export Development Canada has joined other export banks in co-founding the Net-Zero Export Credit Agency Alliance. With this, EDC commits to aligning its business with “pathways to net-zero,” but its steadfast support for fossil fuels calls into question the seriousness of its commitment.
Join us in Ottawa on Oct. 16 for a public talk with Indigenous delegates from communities in Mexico and Wet’suwet’en territory fighting TC Energy pipeline projects. Hear how they’re pushing back in defence of their land against these pipelines being built by TC Energy with support from the Canadian government.
With signs that EDC may be backtracking on its commitments regarding Canada’s policy to restrict fossil fuel finance abroad, we’re calling for regulations to make the rules legally binding.
Ottawa is poised to end a significant component of its support for fossil fuel companies. It has unveiled its criteria to identify “inefficient” subsidies that must end. Left intact, however, are billions of dollars in financing for oil and gas firms, and a phase-out plan for this support is facing delay.
One week before key OECD talks on aligning export finance with international climate goals, Above Ground and more than 175 civil society organizations from over 45 countries have released a position calling for an end to export finance for oil and gas.
Above Ground has written to Export Development Canada and the trade minister seeking clarification regarding the government’s new guidelines for implementing the Glasgow Statement. The statement, signed by dozens of countries at the 2021 UN climate talks, commits signatories to ending direct financing for the overseas fossil fuel sector.