EXPORT-IMPORT BANK BOARD ADOPTS REVISED
ENVIRONMENTAL GUIDELINES TO REDUCE GREENHOUSE GAS
EMISSIONS Washington, DC — The board of directors of the
Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank) today adopted revisions to
its environmental procedures and guidelines governing high-carbon intensity
projects, aligning the Bank with President Obama’s goal of reducing carbon
pollution, while maintaining the Bank’s focus on continuing to help create and
support American export-related jobs.
“No one has been more supportive of
U.S. exports and the American jobs they produce and maintain than this Bank and
this board. Since 2009, we have supported nearly 1.2 million
jobs.” said Fred P. Hochberg, Ex-Im chairman and president. “We
can’t do it, however, without considering the environmental costs associated
with transactions.”
The revised guidelines adopted today require
carbon capture and storage in most countries in order to secure Bank financing
for coal-fired power plants, but would provide flexibility for the Bank with
respect to the important energy needs of the poorest countries in the
world.
The policy revisions were drafted by Ex-Im
Bank staff and reviewed extensively by exporters, the public, leading
environmental groups, the Administration and other federal agencies through an
extensive and transparent vetting process.
“The Bank engages in an important
balancing act — in supporting our exporters, we have to weigh the potential
impacts on the environment associated with our financing,” Hochberg
said. “This balancing act is a Congressional mandate, is a directive in
our Charter, is part of our mission and it is something we at the Bank take
seriously.”
Hochberg noted that: “Our proposed
guidelines would balance the Bank’s obligations to its many different
stakeholders and also its efforts to support the growth of export-related U.S.
jobs.”
“Without guidelines or limits,
ever-increasing numbers of new coal plants worldwide will just continue to emit
more carbon pollution into the air we breathe,” said Hochberg.
“But America cannot do this alone. I strongly support the
Administration’s efforts to build an international consensus such that other
nations follow our lead in restricting financing of new coal-fired power
plants.”
Ex-Im has been a leader among the world’s
export credit agencies (ECAs) in adopting measures to protect the environment
while financing exports.
In 1995 the Bank was the first ECA to adopt environmental
procedures and guidelines governing its export financing.
In 1999 the Bank began tracking and publicly reporting projected
carbon emissions produced by projects it financed. Even today Ex-Im is the only
ECA that tracks and reports carbon emissions. In 2009 the Bank approved a formal carbon policy, and in 2010 it
approved supplemental guidelines for high-carbon intensity projects.
The guideline revisions approved today are not
designed to impact mining projects or coal exports produced by American coal
miners. Ex-Im staff have worked with other agencies to ensure that the
flexibility of these guidelines would be consistent with those of other federal
agencies.
In addition to approving the revisions to its
environmental guidelines, the board today approved seven transactions that
together will support more than 11,200 U.S. export-related jobs.
ABOUT EX-IM
BANK:
Ex-Im Bank is an
independent federal agency that creates and maintains U.S. jobs by filling gaps
in private export financing at no cost to American taxpayers. In the past five
years (from Fiscal Year 2008), Ex-Im Bank has earned for U.S. taxpayers nearly
$1.6 billion above the cost of operations. The Bank provides a variety of
financing mechanisms, including working capital guarantees, export-credit
insurance and financing to help foreign buyers purchase U.S. goods and
services.
Ex-Im Bank approved $35.8
billion in total authorizations in FY 2012 – an all-time Ex-Im record. This
total includes more than $6.1 billion directly supporting small-business export
sales – also an Ex-Im record. Ex-Im Bank's total authorizations are supporting
an estimated $50 billion in U.S. export sales and approximately 255,000 American
jobs in communities across the country.
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