“France, unfortunately, contributes to the financing of coal-fired power stations abroad, it’s called fossil fuel subsidies and France has increased its commitments by 25% since 2015 (…) France has increased with your money, my money, our taxes, the financing of this energy which destroys the climate “, denounced the national secretary of Europe Ecology The Greens, Julien Bayou, questioned Wednesday, November 17, on franceinfo.
Does the state finance coal-fired power plants abroad?
The Ministry of the Economy, the BPI (Public Investment Bank) as well as the NGO Oxfam and the association Les Amis de la Terre ensure that no public funding from the State has been granted to projects of coal-fired power stations abroad since 2015, contrary to what Julien Bayou asserts. The NGO Oxfam recalls that a commitment had been made under François Hollande to end export guarantees for coal-related projects. This commitment was then set in stone in 2019, endorsed by the 2020 finance law. The Friends of the Earth association explains that it regularly checks the projects supported by the BPI and made public on its website. She found no trace of an overseas coal-related project that has allegedly been funded by state subsidies since 2015.
If the state no longer helps coal abroad, it continues to help gas and oil projects through the export guarantee system. The State, through the BPI (Public Investment Bank) can in a way act as surety for French companies wishing to carry out projects abroad. As these projects may appear risky in the eyes of some private banks, the State undertakes to reimburse them in the event of a problem, thus facilitating the granting of loans.
According to figures from the Ministry of the Economy, these fossil fuel export guarantees represented just over 9 billion euros between 2009 and 2019. As of May 31, 2019, the outstanding export credit insurance for related projects to hydrocarbon projects concerned 50% of projects related to natural gas, 30% of projects related to petroleum and liquid hydrocarbons and 20% of residual exposure on coal-fired power stations taken as collateral between 2005 and 2009.
This device is however set to disappear. France has just made a commitment to put an end to the funding of fossil energy projects next year if they are not accompanied by greenhouse gas mitigation measures.
+ 25% in aid for fossil fuels between 2015 and 2019?
Contacted, Julien Bayou claims to draw this figure from a report by the BloombergNEF institute published last July. This report indicates that France has “increased its support for fossil fuels by 24% between 2015 and 2019”. Which leads the authors to say that France is the only EU member state not seen as making progress in eliminating support for fossil fuels. “
However, the scope of the aids listed here is wider than just the “export guarantee”. This concerns all the measures and devices decided by the French State to promote energies considered harmful to the environment. In detail, half of these are investments made by public companies involved in fossil fuels. The remaining 43% “take the form of tax breaks for energy consumers” indicates the report. According to the NGO Oxfam, for example, these may be tax loopholes or tax exemptions.
This 24% increase since 2015, when we are writing this article, has not, however, been confirmed to us by the Ministry of the Economy.