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The investment has been criticized for aligning with US climate upgrade commitments. Previously, two climate advisers had resigned over the plan.
By Hiroko Tabuchi
A federal allocation-funding bank voted Thursday to invest $500 million in an oil and fuel allocation in Bahrain, a deal critics say was not in line with President Biden’s climate commitments.
A few days before the vote, six lawmakers had suggested to the bank, the U. S. Export-Import Bank, or ExIm, not to continue financing, given the project’s negative climate effects. of the outside climate,” lawmakers led by Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore. , said in a letter to the bank’s board of directors last week.
The bank said the funding, in the form of loan guarantees, was in line with its allocation to U. S. exports and jobs. New drilling in Bahrain may simply mean lucrative contracts for U. S. structural engineering and control firms, the bank said. with measures to control greenhouse gases, he said in a statement.
The deal with Bahrain comes just months after the U. S. joined about 200 other countries in moving away from fossil fuels, the burning of which causes the planet to overheat dangerously. It also comes as Biden works to generate among the climate-conscious electorate a greater number of people who are running for re-election.
In February, plans to finance projects in Bahrain led to the resignation of two of the bank’s meteorological advisers. And Biden’s advisers have expressed fear for the bank’s management, which has consistently disobeyed a 2021 presidential order directing government agencies to prevent financing carbon-intensive projects. outside.
Bahrain’s allocation is one of several debatable fossil fuel-related allocations that ExIm Bank is considering lately. There are also plans for a vegetable fuel export allocation in Papua New Guinea and an offshore pipeline in Guyana, as well as some renewable energy allocations such as a zinc and lead mine in Greenland.
Between 2017 and 2021, the bank financed about $6 billion for fossil fuel projects and $120 million for virgin energy, according to a tally by consulting firm Perspectives Climate Group and nonprofit Oxfam.
Hiroko Tabuchi covers the intersection and the weather for The Times. He has been a journalist for more than 20 years in Tokyo and New York. Learn more about Hiroko Tabuchi
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