Page 12 - EurOil Week 27 2021

EurOil POLICY EurOil

EBRD to terminate support

for upstream projects

EUROPE THE European Bank for Reconstruction and financing of fossil fuels. With midstream pro-
Development (EBRD) has decided to terminate jects, we’re taking a very targeted approach.”
The EBRD’s stance is support for upstream projects as the EU tough- The EBRD is already striving to have green
not as tough against ens its stance towards oil and gas. investments account for over half of its total
oil and gas as that of From the end of 2022, the bank’s lending lending by 2025. But Renaud-Basso said the
the EIB. activities will be fully aligned with the Paris bank had to increase its ambitions.
Agreement, following a decision by its board of “Our goal is to make the shift to net-zero
governors on July 1 at an annual meeting. This emissions an organising principle of the bank
means no more funds will be available for oil and and its activities,” she said.
gas exploration and production. Many of the 38 economies that the EBRD
The bank can still invest in certain midstream invests depend heavily on fossil fuels. These
developments under the new policy, but only if countries are 35% more carbon-intensive than
they lead to reductions in emissions. For exam- the world average, with highly polluting coal
ple, these projects could include pipelines and accounting for more than 40% of primary
LNG terminals that enable a country to cut its energy supply in seven of the nations, the bank
use of dirtier coal in power and heating gen- said.
eration. The EBRD also continues to support “Holding the increase in the global average
gas-fired power plants and other facilities that temperature to well below 2 degrees Celsius is
consume gas. a global imperative to safeguard our planet and
The day after its meeting, the bank announced protect ourselves from climate-related risks,”
it would lend up to €18mn ($21mn) to finance Renaud-Basso said.
the replacement of coal with gas boilers in the The bank will use a methodology developed
district heating system of Kragujevac, Serbia’s with other multilateral development banks to
fourth-largest city. assess whether potential investment targets are
“Our investment in fossil fuels will be declin- sufficiently low-carbon.
ing over the next two years,” EBRD President The EBRD’s stance against hydrocarbons
Odile Renaud-Basso told reporters ahead of the is still not as extreme as that of the European
annual meeting. “We’re in the process of align- Investment Bank (EIB), which vowed in 2019 to
ing all our financing with the Paris Agreement. end all support for oil and gas by the end of this
As part of that, we’re getting out of upstream year. ™

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