Input Stories

The Biden administration is backing a plan to limit international funding for oil and gas projects (POLITICO). 
 
What’s going on: At a Tuesday virtual meeting of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, “[t]he United States, along with a handful of other rich countries … back[ed] a so-called emissions threshold that would prevent the U.S. Export-Import Bank, as well as other countries’ export credit agencies, from financing carbon-intensive projects.” 
 
What it means: If it’s successful, the proposal—undertaken by the president “amid pressure from climate activists to make good on his 2021 promise to end overseas financing” of fossil fuel endeavors—could mean the Ex-Im Bank stops financing traditional energy projects.   
 
Yes, but … The bank has said that it cannot single out specific industries in denying financing—and President-elect Trump “is unlikely to support the move when he takes office in January.” The plan also still requires consensus approval to pass.  

• Still, if it does pass before President-elect Trump takes office, the new administration “may be forced to comply with the deal or leave the group altogether.”  

The NAM’s take: “This move to ban most traditional-energy financing overseas is misguided, particularly for natural gas projects,” NAM Vice President of Domestic Policy Chris Phalen said. 

• “Natural gas is an affordable, plentiful energy source, and U.S. liquefied natural gas exports—on which the Biden administration imposed an indefinite ban nearly a year ago—are a critical component of U.S. energy dominance and climate leadership. The administration should rethink both the LNG ban and this OECD proposal.”