The UN-convened Net-Zero Export Credit Agencies Alliance (NZECA) has published its Target-Setting Protocol, a tool to enable export credit agencies (ECAs) and export-import (ExIm) banks to set net-zero targets and implement them to accelerate their decarbonisation ambitions.
This first version of the protocol provides guidance to members on setting long-term and intermediate science-based climate targets and related disclosures to help members fulfil the commitments they have made within their operational context. According to NZECA, this is critical in ensuring that ECAs and ExIm banks can meaningfully participate in the net-zero transition without compromising their core mandate of enabling exports and promoting economic growth.
The Alliance also announced its first new member, Finland’s Finnvera, bringing the total number of affiliate and committed members to nine ECAs worldwide. Jussi Haarasilta, executive vice president of large corporates at Finnvera, will join the NZECA Steering Group, the Alliance’s main governance body.
“ECAs and ExIm banks are essential to climate action because they have significant influence in global markets and the resources to support large-scale projects worldwide”, said Eric Usher, UNEP finance initiative head.
“By financing, insuring, and guaranteeing substantial amounts of international trade and investment, they can direct funds towards sustainable infrastructure, energy, and industrial projects – critical sectors that heavily impact the world’s carbon footprint and that the private sector alone may not be able to help finance.”
In order to join, NZECA members commit to transitioning their portfolio greenhouse gas emissions in alignment with the path to net zero by 2050 or sooner. They set and disclose intermediate science-based targets for 2030 or sooner, consistent with a pathway to net zero by 2050 at the latest, and commit to ending new direct support for the international unabated fossil fuel energy sector.
While the Protocol is primarily developed for setting NZECA members on the path to net zero, it is can also be used by a wide variety of ECAs and ExIm banks from around the world to accelerate the decarbonisation of international trade globally. It will be updated regularly, and members will report on their target-setting progress via an annual progress report.
The NZECA was launched in December 2023 at COP28 by eight leading export credit agencies in partnership with the Innovation and Knowledge Hub at the University of Oxford and the Future of Climate Cooperation.
Tim Reid, CEO of UK Export Finance (NZECA Steering Group chair), added: “Public finance organisations are hugely important to support the flow of international trade. Through guarantees and insurance, export credit support will remain key to unlocking the critical mass of private finance needed to enable sustainable projects – this is why UKEF has committed to facilitate £10bn in financing for clean-growth projects by 2029. These guidelines for decarbonisation target-setting are first-of-a-kind for export credit agencies, and will help us make meaningful progress towards net-zero.”
