German support for any of the projects would breach a pledge made last year to stop funding coal, oil and gas projects overseas from 1 January German chancellor Olaf Scholz (Photo: ?ea ??µ???at?a/ Dimitris Papamitsos / Greek Prime Minister's Office/Flickr) Germany is considering support for at least 10 foreign fossil fuel projects worth over €1 billion ($1bn), despite its pledge to end international funding for coal, oil and gas. In response to a parliamentary question from a left-wing German lawmaker, the state secretary at the ministry of economic affairs and climate action Udo Philipp said the government is considering 10 applications for export credit guarantees for fossil energy projects in Brazil, Iraq, Uzbekistan, the Dominican Republic and Cuba. A breakdown of the projects accompanying the response shows that €419 million ($442m) or around 40% of the funding, could go to a single project in Brazil. Three of the projects totalling €340m ($359m) are located in Iraq and four are in Cuba. Other fossil fuel projects could be under consideration by the German state-owned investment and development bank KfW. The bank does not disclose projects it hasn’t decided to support. UK coal mine approval sparks global fury and hypocrisy claims Germany was among 16 countries to sign a pledge at Cop26 in Glasgow last year to end international funding for fossil fuel projects by the end of 2022. Ten have published policies showing how they will restrict funding to coal, oil and gas. But Germany has not adopted a policy because of internal divisions over exemptions for gas. Victor Perli is the German lawmaker of the leftist Die Linke party who asked the parliamentary question. He accused the federal government of “breaking promises to end funding for fossil fuel projects” and called for checks to be made on each of the 10 projects. The government stopped short of providing details about each of the projects. But... |