The energy transition and export-credit agencies: problems or solutions for planetary health equity?

Fossil-fuel dependant energy systems are bad for human health, unequally distributed and environmentally destructive including as a major source of greenhouse gas emissions. Low- and middle-income countries are expected to account for the bulk of emissions growth in the coming decades. How the energy transition is supported in those countries will affect planetary health equity - the equitable enjoyment of good health in a stable earth system. Much of the health and climate-related finance research has focused on health-care systems adaptation and emissions reduction. Little attention has been paid by the health community to the role of public finance in the energy transition more broadly and what that means for planetary health equity. In this paper we examine the role of export credit agencies (ECAs) in creating an equitable global energy transition towards renewables and the implications for planetary health equity. ECAs rank among the leading public financial institutions in global energy investment.

To characterize the topology of global energy finance networks, we examined lender-recipient investment ties and calculated structural metrics that enabled comparison of the integration, fragmentation, and relational patterns of fossil fuel and clean-energy finance networks. Using these network analysis methods, we found that fossil fuel investments dominate ECAs' energy finance globally, with cumulative support 12 times larger than renewable energy by 2021. Five countries (Canada, China, Japan, South Korea and US) account for 84% of fossil fuel support. The flow of clean-energy finance from high-income to low- and middle-income countries remains limited, with most investments in renewable energy occurring between high-income countries.

The continuation of current ECA practices risk widening global inequities in the energy transition, drive greenhouse gas emissions, and ultimately contribute to climate-related death and disease. To enable planetary health equity, ECAs must cease all new fossil fuel project financing; expand policies to increase clean energy exports to developing nations; simplify processes for clean-energy enterprises; and expand ECAs' role in blended finance for development. Health actors must engage in this area of public finance to ensure funding decisions do not exacerbate global health and planetary health inequities.