President Biden's pledges to end U.S. financial support for international fossil fuel projects faltered as friendly nations sought help.
President Biden’s pledges to end U.S. financial support for international fossil fuel projects faltered as friendly nations sought help.
“The Biden administration continues to approve one fossil project after another, which completely undermines our international dialogue for a faster transition to renewables and undermines our credibility,” said Sen. has pressed the White House for information on its policy for funding the oil and gas projects.
Shortly before the Ex-Im vote to finalize the financing, Kerry and Jon Finer, the deputy national security adviser in the White House, telephoned Ex-Im Chair Reta Jo Lewis to urge her to pull the project from the agenda and delay the decision, according to two administration officials, who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak about the incident.
Other deals have cropped up in the last 18 months at the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation, an international financing agency that can deploy up to $60 billion. Biden is leaning on the agency to help deliver on his international climate finance commitments, and DFC has pledged to reach net-zero emissions across its portfolio by 2040.
Administration officials say the Biden shift to support the oil and gas projects was largely driven by Moscow’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, which put European allies at risk of fuel shortages as nations there scrambled to replace Russian energy supplies. The U.S. and European governments scoured the planet for new supplies — a significant amount of which came from emerging economies.
The Biden administration backed that U.N. pact up in December 2021 guidance to federal agencies that largely prevented federal investments in overseas oil and gas projects. But those agencies were left to determine for themselves whether proposals satisfied certain exemptions that would permit fossil fuel financing, such as national security or energy access and economic development where clean energy is not viable.
That process has fed a perception among industry, environmental advocates and lawmakers that the administration was taking an ad hoc approach to the investments. The new changes, which have not been previously reported, are designed to ensure consistency across the government. But it has encountered resistance from agencies who see it as impinging on their independence, the official said.
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