Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham Edgbaston)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what type of fossil fuel projects in UKEF’s programme pipeline will reach financial close in the next six months.
Answered by Graham Stuart
UK Export Finance (UKEF) is obliged to consider all requests for its support. Those requests can be made, and subsequently withdrawn, at any time.
UKEF is currently considering support for 10 projects involving fossil fuels which may be completed by the end of July 2021. Eight of these are requests for support through UKEF’s Export Development Guarantee (EDG). The EDG provides general working capital to support the operations of eligible exporters, and is not tied to specific contracts.
The two individual projects for which UKEF is considering support are in the following sectors and locations:
Brazil: Oil and gas
Turkmenistan: Compressors for a gas pipeline to a power station
UKEF currently also has 12 applications for trade finance cover in the sector that may be completed by the end of July 2021. These are all related to oil and gas projects, and are located as follows:
Azerbaijan: 2
Belgium: 1
China: 2
Egypt :1
Malaysia: 3
Mozambique: 1
Oman: 1
Qatar: 1
However, the decision whether or not to provide support for any of these projects or applications will also have to take into account the implementation of the new policy announced by the Prime Minister on 12 December. The date of implementation of the new policy will be determined following the consultation that was launched on the same day.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham Edgbaston)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, pursuant to the Government announcement on an end to support for the fossil fuel sector overseas and to the Answer of 18 November 2020 to Question 91998 on Fossil Fuels: Export Credit Guarantees, whether those projects remain under consideration for 2021.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The new policy on ending government’s support to fossil fuels overseas announced by the Prime Minister at the Climate Ambition Summit will be implemented as soon as possible following the conclusion of the consultation process that was launched on 12 December.
During the consultation period and ahead of the implementation of the new policy, the government will continue to apply current policy for all in-scope activities including proposals for high carbon projects, with consideration of relevant factors including climate change. During this period, UK Export Finance (UKEF) will apply government’s current policy and continue to consider applications for support in the oil and gas sector.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham Edgbaston)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 18 November 2020 to Question 91998 on Fossil Fuels: Export Credit Guarantees, what the type of fossil fuel project is for each request being considered by UKEF.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The fact that UK Export Finance (UKEF) is considering a transaction is not necessarily indicative of future support.
The projects currently being considered relate to: petrochemical, chemical derived fertiliser, gas fired power station efficiency upgrades, power related pipeline, floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) activities, water pumps for oil and gas platforms, wastewater treatment, and equipment for oil and gas production, as well as potential support to be provided under UKEF’s Export Development Guarantee product.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham Edgbaston)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 18 November 2020 to Question 91998 on Fossil Fuels: Export Credit Guarantees, whether each project is (a) upstream, (b) midstream or (c) downstream.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The seven applications under consideration by UK Export Finance (UKEF) referred to in the response to Question 91998 are broken down as follows:
Two of them are upstream, one is midstream, two are downstream, and one is for power. The other application relates to UKEF’s EDG product for which the applicant is active in a range of sectors including both the O&G and renewables sectors.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham Edgbaston)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 18 November 2020 to Question 91998 on Fossil Fuels: Export Credit Guarantees, how much funding from the public purse is being requested for each of those seven projects.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The seven projects referred to in my response to the hon. Member for Birmingham, Edgbaston’s previous question, UIN: 91998, are still under consideration by UK Export Finance (UKEF), and no decisions have been made. UKEF is considering the extent and form its support might take and it is too early to quantify the value of our support.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham Edgbaston)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 18 November 2020 to Question 91998, how much funding the Government has provided to (a) thermal coal mining and (b) coal power plants overseas in each of the last 10 years.
Answered by Graham Stuart
Support provided by UK Export Finance (UKEF) takes the form of guarantees, loans or insurance fully funded by premiums.
Until this year UKEF did not seek details of whether the exported goods would be used for thermal or metallurgical coal; the table below therefore represents support related to the sector in general.
UKEF has provided the following support for (a) coal mining and (b) coal power plants overseas during the last ten years:
| Coal mining | Coal power plants |
2010/11 | 0 | 0 |
2011/12 | £16.7m | 0 |
2012/13 | £52.2m | 0 |
2013/14 | 0 | 0 |
2014/15 | 0 | 0 |
2015/16 | 0 | 0 |
2016/17 | £23m | 0 |
2017/18 | 0 | 0 |
2018/19 | 0 | 0 |
2019/20 | £59.9m | 0 |
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham Edgbaston)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, how many fossil fuel projects UK Export Finance has planned for 2021; and where these projects will be located.
Answered by Graham Stuart
At the UK-Africa Investment Summit in January we announced an end to HMG support for thermal coal mining and coal power plant overseas, and we continue to keep our approach to other fossil fuel investments and financing overseas under review.
UK Export Finance (UKEF) is obliged to consider all requests for its support. These requests can be made, and subsequently withdrawn, at any time.
When considering a request for support, UKEF conducts extensive due diligence, including environmental, social, and human rights due diligence and consideration of climate change, to understand the risk it is being asked to take. There are various reasons why an application to UKEF might not result in support being provided, or, if support is offered, why delays in providing that support might arise. All these factors make determining when UKEF support may, or even will be provided difficult and imprecise.
UKEF is currently considering requests for support for 7 projects involving fossil fuels (none of which are coal-related, in line with government policy) which may be supported in 2021. UKEF has also received a further 10 applications for trade finance cover in the sector. It is possible that not all these transactions will be concluded
in 2021, or indeed in subsequent years.
Those projects are in the following countries:
Algeria | 1 |
Azerbaijan | 2 |
Brazil | 2 |
Canada | 1 |
China | 2 |
Egypt | 1 |
Iraq | 1 |
Italy | 1 |
Malaysia | 2 |
Thailand | 1 |
Turkey | 1 |
Turkmenistan | 1 |
UK | 1 |
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham Edgbaston)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what recent steps she has taken to support producers in the global south whose trade has been disrupted as a result of the covid-19 pandemic
Answered by Greg Hands
The UK is championing a comprehensive and coordinated trade and development response to COVID-19. This includes advocating for developing country interests at the G20 and World Trade Organisation (WTO) and adapting our policy and programming portfolios to provide immediate support.
Through the Trade and Investment Advocacy Fund, Manufacturing Africa programme and our funding to the World Bank, we are supporting countries to better understand the impacts of COVID-19, design their policy response accordingly, engage in the WTO, increase their production of Covid related goods such as personal protection equipment, and ease the passage of goods across borders.
The government has also developed the Vulnerable Supply Chains Facility which seeks to enable vulnerable people and supply chains to recover from and remain resilient to the economic and social impacts of COVID-19, by leveraging the reach and influence of responsible businesses through partnerships. The Facility, made up of £4.85 million UK aid and £2 million from businesses, will focus primarily on supply chains and workers in the agriculture and garment sectors. The partnerships are with 16 of the UK’s largest retailers and wholesalers (including Primark, Monsoon, New Look, M&S, Morrisons, Co-op, Waitrose, Tesco, and Sainsbury’s), reaching 165,000 workers directly, over 800,000 more broadly across UK supply chains in 8 countries in Africa and South Asia (Myanmar, Bangladesh, Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Rwanda and Ghana).
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham Edgbaston)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what assessment she has made of the effect of the continued destruction of the Amazon on Brazil-UK trading relations.
Answered by Ranil Jayawardena
HM Government is concerned about deforestation in the Amazon and the impact on the climate and biodiversity.
My Department is clear that trade does not have to come at the expense of the environment and is committed to upholding Britain’s high environmental standards as part of her sovereign trade policy.
HM Government is working with Brazilian counterparts and other interested parties, and has committed £200m through International Climate Finance programmes aimed at tackling deforestation. We will continue to monitor the situation in the Amazon closely and to raise it in our ongoing dialogues with the Government of Brazil.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham Edgbaston)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what assessment she has made of the effect of the deforestation of the Amazon on Brazil-UK trading relations.
Answered by Ranil Jayawardena
HM Government is concerned about deforestation in the Amazon and the impact on the climate and biodiversity.
My Department is clear that trade does not have to come at the expense of the environment and is committed to upholding Britain’s high environmental standards as part of her sovereign trade policy.
HM Government is working with Brazilian counterparts and other interested parties, and has committed £200m through International Climate Finance programmes aimed at tackling deforestation. We will continue to monitor the situation in the Amazon closely and to raise it in our ongoing dialogues with the Government of Brazil.