Export Credit Agencies

Though few people have heard of them, export credit agencies (ECAs) are government-backed institutions that provide tens of billions of dollars for energy and other projects all over the world every year. ECAs aim to increase the export of goods and services abroad and create jobs in the home country. Most high income, and now many middle income, countries have at least one ECA. The Export-Import Bank of the United States is the U.S.’s ECA.

ECAs are the largest public financiers of fossil fuels in the world.

The largest ECAs have provided almost $40 billion every year to fossil fuels projects globally. This support was 12 times more than what ECAs provided to clean renewable energy projects.

The U.S. Export-Import Bank provided an average of almost $6 billion annually to fossil fuel projects from 2013 to 2015 – 60 times the amount it spent on clean energy projects. Donald Trump is expected to drive an even greater fossil fuel binge at the Export-Important Bank.

In addition to climate impacts, ECA-supported projects hurt local communities, harm human health, lead to human rights abuses, spawn corruption, increase geopolitical instability and humanitarian disasters.

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