Legal & Regulatory News

ICC publishes sustainability in export finance white paper progress report

In February 2023, the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) released a progress report (the Progress Report) assessing the extent to which the export finance industry has adopted the recommendations on sustainability outlined in an ICC white paper first published on 22 September 2021 (the White Paper).

The White Paper was the first authoritative review of the state of sustainability across the export finance industry, and explored how the industry could increase its contribution to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Agreement. Within the financial services industry, export finance plays a vital role in mobilising the required investments to achieve the SDGs and support the net zero transition, especially in relation to developing countries. The White Paper outlined a number of recommendations, including scaling support for innovative export finance deals and reviewing the framework developed by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to allow for more flexibility and incentives for transactions supporting global sustainability goals.

The Progress Report provides that there have been some encouraging developments in relation to several of the key recommendations from the White Paper, including that:

• the export finance industry has made an explicit commitment to stop supporting coal, which has also been enshrined in the OECD framework;
• a number of countries have agreed to phase out support for the fossil fuel energy sector;
• the industry's role in supporting the transition to a lower carbon economy is now widely understood; and
• there is increasing support for new and innovative companies, green exports and export technologies that help address the world's most pressing issues.

However, the Progress Report suggests that more progress is needed in some areas, including on the modernisation of the OECD framework to include sustainability at its core.

With less than 10 years left to achieve the SDGs, the Progress Report emphasises the need for export finance market participants to do more to contribute meaningfully to the sustainability agenda.

Click here to access the Progress Report.

Click here to access the White Paper.

​​​​​