Two climate advisers have left the US Export-Import Bank over fossil fuel plans
A federal bank that finances projects abroad will vote Thursday on whether taxpayer money should be used to help drill oil and gas wells in Bahrain, a controversial decision that has prompted two of the bank's climate advisers to resign. according to people with knowledge of their country. decisions.
The project in Bahrain is one of several controversial foreign fossil fuel projects that the Export-Import Bank of the United States is currently considering.
The two advisers, who serve on an 18-member board that President Biden created to help the bank take climate change into account when making investments, resigned last week after a meeting on the Bahrain project , according to five current and former bank officials. spoke on condition they not be identified because they were not authorized to discuss internal deliberations.
They described growing frustration among climate advisory board members, who say they are being kept in the dark about upcoming fossil fuel loans and unable to make recommendations on whether to approve or even modify a particular project.
At least two more members of the climate advisory board are considering resigning, officials said.
Mr. Biden's aides have expressed their concerns about the direction of the bank, which has consistently ignored a 2021 presidential order that government agencies stop financing carbon-intensive projects abroad.
The bank is an independent federal agency governed by a board of directors of six, appointed by the president for four-year terms.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The bank confirmed that two members of the climate council had resigned, but declined to say why they had resigned. It also declined to comment on the Bahrain project, saying it was providing “limited details of transactions” ahead of the board's vote.
The two members who resigned are Barbara Buchner, the global director of the Climate Policy Initiative, a nonprofit research group; and Stacy A. Swann, founder of a climate investment group called Resilient Earth Capital. Both declined to comment.
The bank has not disclosed how much money in loans or guarantees it will take into account. However, it is expected to seek congressional approval, which is required for projects over $100 million. The bank also did not say how many American jobs the project was expected to create or provide details on the greenhouse gas emissions it would create.
The furore over a possible deal with Bahrain comes just two months after the United States joined nearly 200 other countries in pledging to shift away from fossil fuels, the combustion of which is dangerously overheating the planet. It also comes as Mr Biden works to shore up support from climate-conscious voters as he runs for re-election.
In addition to financing the Bahrain project, the Export-Import Bank also considering financing a natural gas export project in Papua New Guinea and an offshore pipeline in Guyana, in addition to some projects related to renewable energy, such as a zinc-lead mine in Greenland.
In the past year, it has approved nearly $100 million for an oil refinery in Indonesia; $400 million to support U.S. liquefied natural gas exports; and a loan guarantee to an Estonian company for the purchase of U.S. storage tanks for an oil project in the Bahamas.
“They want to support fossil fuel companies at all costs,” said Kate DeAngelis, who covers international finance at Friends of the Earth, an environmental group. “We see that time and time again,” she says.
The Export-Import Bank, better known as ExIm, was founded in 1934 to support American jobs by providing loans and guarantees for the export of American goods and services.
It has been sharply criticized over the years for its financing of fossil fuel projects.
During the Obama administration, the bank came under fire for financing coal-fired power plants, and in 2010, as part of a legal settlement with environmental groups, agreed to create a “rigorously enhanced due diligence process” for all carbon-intensive energy projects.
Although the bank has not financed coal projects for about a decade, it does guarantee a huge amount of oil and gas. Between 2017 and 2021, the bank provided nearly $6 billion in financing for fossil fuel projects and $120 million for clean energy. according to a count by the Perspectives Climate Group and the non-profit organization Oxfam.
When Mr. Biden was elected, he did founded the ExIm Chairman's Council for Climate to advise the bank on “how we can better support U.S. exporters on clean energy, how we can advance the transition to a low-carbon economy, and how we can create clean American jobs at home.”
But since the board's creation, the bank's staff has limited its influence, telling members they are not allowed to advise on a particular project to be financed, current and former bank officials said.
Climate consultants have not received requests to know what fossil fuel projects are under consideration and were told they can see information when the general public does, these officials said.
When the bank approved funds for the Indonesian oil refinery project in May, the bank's climate advisers learned about it through news reports, according to five current and former bank officials.
That decision also raised concerns within the Biden administration, which just months earlier had signed a deal to help Indonesia transition to clean energy.
John Kerry, Mr. Biden's climate envoy at the time, had called Reta Jo Lewis, the bank's chairman, to try to delay the vote on the project, but the administration went ahead, according to an administration official with knowledge of the discussion, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to discuss it publicly.
The US funding for Bahrain would go towards expanding the Bahrain field in the center of the country, one of the oldest oil and gas fields in the Middle East. Operated by a subsidiary of the state-owned National Oil and Gas Holding Company, it plans to drill more than 400 new oil wells and more than 30 new gas wells. an environmental impact assessment posted on the bank's website.
Such a project could also generate lucrative contracts for U.S. engineering and construction management companies. Last year, Mrs. Lewis traveled to Bahrain to meet with government officials and business leaders to “expand ExIm's footprint in the region and facilitate new opportunities for U.S. exporters in Bahrain.”
SLB, a Houston-based oilfield services company, is involved in the project, according to the project a meeting agenda made public by the bank.
Questions to the state-owned company and to the Bahraini Ministry of Oil and Environment remained unanswered. SLB did not respond to requests for comment.