NORWAY will no longer use government-backed finance to fund fossil fuel projects abroad after pledging the new policy last year.
At the 2021 COP26 UN climate summit in Glasgow, 39 countries and institutions – including many EU states, the United States, and Canada – launched the Clean Energy Transition Partnership (CETP, sometimes called the Glasgow Statement), committing to end direct international public finance for fossil fuel projects.
Norway and Australia joined the CETP at the 2023 COP28 climate summit in Dubai.
Recent research shows the CETP is working, with most signatories eliminating or considerably reducing their international fossil fuel financing.
Collectively, signatories cut their international public finance for fossil fuels by up to two thirds since signing the agreement, a drop of USD 15 billion a year. Norway’s new policy will contribute to this progress.
Norway’s new policy will end the government's public finance for fossil fuel projects overseas, which largely comes from its government export credit agency, Eksfin.
However, the policy does not appear to address the role that Eksfin plays in providing financing to the Norwegian state oil company, Equinor.
The publication of Norway’s policy helps increase momentum for a global, binding deal that can end $41 billion a year in oil and gas export financing at the OECD, where Norway will be among countries partaking in final negotiations today.
With the EU, US, UK, Canada, Norway, Australia and New Zealand all supporting fossil fuel restrictions a deal is within reach. This would free up significant sums in public money for clean energy instead.
This is a last opportunity for US President Joe Biden to reach a "Trump-proof" climate deal.
Adam McGibbon, campaign strategist at Oil Change International, said: “Norway's decision to honour its pledge to end international oil and gas financing is a crucial domino falling at exactly the right moment. The OECD negotiations represent a once-in-a-generation opportunity to redirect $41 billion in annual oil and gas export finance toward cleaner energy.
"With Trump looming on the horizon, this could be our last chance to lock in climate progress that would be difficult to reverse.
“Prime Minister Støre must now urgently contact his Korean and Turkish counterparts, the last holdouts at the OECD, to encourage them to ensure a historic deal is reached that helps accelerate the energy transition and secures a liveable planet for all.”
