The agency vexing Biden on climate

The Export-Import Bank is considering putting billions of dollars behind two massive foreign gas projects as the independent agency finds itself increasingly at odds with the Biden administration on climate.

EXIM FACES CLIMATE TEST: The Export-Import Bank has increasingly become a thorn in the side of the Biden administration on climate, our Zack Colman reports this morning. As an independent agency operating outside of the White House’s decision-making process, ExIm has defied the administration’s pledges to accelerate the transition off fossil fuels by sending billions of dollars to oil and gas projects around the world.

The fight has come to a head over massive liquefied natural gas export terminals proposed in Mozambique and Papua New Guinea, which ExIm is eyeing financing. Climate-minded Democrats in Congress and environmental advocates say their patience is wearing thin with ExIm — and the White House’s failure to rein it in.

“It's embarrassing, frankly, to our nation in the eyes of the world, to our credibility as a global leader on climate,” Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) told Zack. Huffman said he has discussed options with his colleagues for reorienting ExIm on climate, including removing current chair Reta Jo Lewis.

ExIm maintains that its charter, which is set by Congress, prohibits it from discriminating in its financing based on industry or sector. But a senior administration official told Zack the White House has been working with ExIm’s lawyers and leadership to identify a pathway to increase its focus on clean energy projects relative to fossil fuels.

And ExIm is not the only independent agency that has irked environmentalists with its decisions on fossil fuels. The U.S. International Development Finance Corp has also backed billions for fossil fuel projects, while FERC in February authorized a cross-border pipeline that would carry Texas-produced gas through Mexico for export to Asia.

By:  James Bikales
Source: Politico Pro

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