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Climate and social justice activists on Thursday called a global summit bringing together more than 450 public development banks a missed opportunity of historic proportions after the meeting ended with no commitment to stop funding fossil fuel projects.
“There is no excuse to continue financing billions of dollars in coal, gas or oil projects. This must end now, ”said Sophie Richmond, Big Shift Global coordinator, in a statement.
The event in question was the four-day Common Finance Summit, which ended on Thursday. Hosted by France, the virtual summit was announced as a way to “emphasize the crucial role of Public Development Banks (PDBs) in reconciling short-term counter-cyclical responses with sustainable recovery measures that will have a long-term impact on the economy. planet and societies. “
Institutions that participated included the World Bank and the China Development Bank, with hundreds of banks collectively managing more than $ 2.3 trillion in annual investments.
“As a source of finance for many large infrastructure projects, including the energy sector, public development institutions are central to efforts to divert funding from fossil fuels to low-carbon projects,” such as Reuters famous.
The summit produced a joint statement that read (pdf), in part:
With regard to the energy transition, we are committed to increasing the pace and coverage of investment in renewable energy, energy efficiency and clean technologies to accelerate equitable access to clean energy and the energy transition. We will work together to make a leap to renewable energy in countries where there is little or no development of this type. We will support and promote sustainable alternatives to investments in fossil fuels and consider ways and means to reduce these investments, contributing to the ambition of long-term low carbon development trajectories and NDC towards a decarbonised society. We will consider the range of fossil fuel investments in our portfolios, avoid stranded assets, and work to apply stricter investment criteria, such as explicit policies to exit coal finance in the perspective of COP26.
The statement drew ire from progressive groups who lamented the absence of a bold commitment to shore up fossil fuels and the fact that the document was not signed by all participants.
“Without a concrete commitment to end public finance for fossil fuels, this summit cannot be considered a success for climate action,” said Laurie van der Burg, senior activist for Oil Change International. “It is too late for vague words about phasing out one fossil fuel at a time.”
Mark Fodor, coordinator of the Defenders in Development campaign for the Coalition for Human Rights in Development, further accused the global meeting of having “completely failed to address the legacy of PDBs supporting projects linked to human rights abuses. affecting thousands, if not millions, around the world. “
“No real commitments to community-led development, respect for the rights of indigenous peoples, protection of defenders who make their voices heard around PA-funded activities, or a rights-based approach in general. ”, He continued,“ any talk about inclusive development is just that: talking ”.
The platform was “an ideal opportunity for public development banks to set a roadmap for meaningful climate action towards COP26 in 2021, as well as to raise the bar on other important issues, such as human rights,” said Petra Kjell. , Resource Campaign Manager. However, he continued, “the lack of ambition and the commitments to concrete deadlines make the joint declaration of the summit almost meaningless.”
“It is particularly disappointing that multilateral development banks, such as the World Bank and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, have refused to make their commitment official by signing the declaration,” Kjell said, calling the “next 12 months, in preparation for the next summit and COP26 … fundamental to rectify these errors ”.
The end of the PA’s financing of fossil fuels was one of the key demands of hundreds of organizations in the Global South, who said that the “Covid-19 pandemic, the global recession and the intensification of climate change are pushing us towards poverty without precarious and precarious existence. “
“Public financial institutions control $ 2 trillion in public money and therefore wield enormous power,” the groups said in a joint statement. “This power must be used not only to alleviate the suffering of people and empower them to live humanely in these times of catastrophes”, but also “to build a new global order that is truly just, equitable and that gives primacy to the rights of women. people and the well-being of the planet. “
Dozens of other US and international groups, including Friends of the Earth Europe, Via Campesina and the National Family Farm Coalition, also issued a joint statement Thursday accusing development banks of being “disconnected from any sense of what ‘public’ means. and any argument about how ‘development’ should be “.
“In food and agriculture, the backbone of our very existence, they fund corporate agribusiness,” the groups said, asserting that the time of PDBs was clearly over.
“We need a very different approach to international finance that supports communities rather than businesses, and food systems free from corporate control,” the groups wrote.
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