Export Credit Agencies: Movement Toward Common Environmental Guidelines, but National Differences Remain Page: 2 of 57
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- GAO
' Accountability* Integrity* Reliability
Highlights
Highlights of GAO-03-1093, a report to
congressional requestersWhy GAO Did This Study
Export credit agencies (ECA) are
responsible for providing billions
of dollars worth of support for
large-scale industrial projects
annually, but until recently most
ECAs did not formally review the
environmental impacts of these
projects. The United States,
whose Export-Import Bank began
using environmental guidelines in
1995, pushed for negotiations on
common ECA environmental
guidelines at the Organization for
Economic Cooperation and
Development (OECD). The
OECD negotiations halted in 2001
because the United States
believed that the results, called
the Common Approaches, were
insufficient. The remaining
OECD members then pledged to
voluntarily implement the
Common Approaches. In
response to congressional
interest in ECA environmental
guidelines, GAO assessed (1) the
level of convergence among
OECD members and the
prospects for further
advancement and (2) what
impacts such guidelines may have
on U.S. exports.EXPORT CREDIT AGENCIES
Movement Toward Common
Environmental Guidelines, but National
Differences RemainWhat GAO Found
Since OECD negotiations began, members have made progress in developing
environmental guidelines for their ECAs and are moving toward common
environmental review practices. However, important differences remain.
Having agreed to voluntarily implement the Common Approaches beginning
in 2002, many OECD members adopted similar basic procedures for
reviewing sensitive projects. However, OECD members' guidelines and
practices differ in areas where the United States believes it has among the
more advanced policies, including which technical standards ECAs use to
review projects and the extent to which environmental impact information is
publicly disclosed. Although OECD members are considering revising the
Common Approaches in 2003, the United States is unlikely to achieve all of
its original negotiating objectives because of the desire by some OECD
members to gain more experience with the guidelines before renegotiating
them and the reluctance of other members to take any steps that might be
perceived as having a negative effect on the competitiveness of their
exporters.
There is limited evidence that the Export-Import Bank's environmental
guidelines have affected U.S. exports, although the complexity of potential
effects and the lack of information make identifying and quantifying impacts
difficult. The evidence GAO reviewed indicates that impacts are likely to be
concentrated in the energy sector. Most Export-Import Bank transactions
do not require an environmental review because they are either short-term
transactions, are in certain excluded sectors, or are not considered
environmentally sensitive. Finally, while some businesses are more
concerned about the impacts of environmental guidelines than others, their
specific concerns are largely anecdotal and difficult to confirm.
Milestones in Efforts to Develop Common Environmental Guidelines for ECAs
1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003N
February: Ex-lIm Bank
finalizes environmental
guidelines
April: Ex-lIm Bank
gives detailed proposal
for common guidelines
to OECDApril: OECD ECG July: ECG agrees April: ECG issues November:
issues statement of to information work plan for U.S. declines
intent on export sharing on large export credit to support
credits and the projects negotiations within Common
environment; ECG Approaches,
members ready to October: OECD blocking
consider negotiations begin agreement
environment when
deciding on export
credits
......._V
April: ECAs
complete first
project review
reporting
exercise
September: ECG
scheduled to
review Common
ApproachesJanuary: uther ECG
members begin voluntary
implementation of
Common Approacheswww.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-03-1093
To view the full product, including the scope
and methodology, click on the link above.
For more information, contact Loren Yager,
(202) 512-4347, yagerl@gao.gov.Source: GAO.
United States General Accounting Office
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United States. General Accounting Office. Export Credit Agencies: Movement Toward Common Environmental Guidelines, but National Differences Remain, report, September 10, 2003; Washington D.C.. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc293535/m1/2/: accessed April 23, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.