The Clean Energy Transition Partnership has helped many countries stem the flow of money to polluting oil and gas projects, according to Oil Change International.
The partnership was formed by 39 governments and institutions at the 2021 U.N. Climate Change Conference. The signatories committed to stopping public funds from going to fossil fuel projects. Oil Change International dug into the progress of those members toward that goal.
America pulled out of CETP along with the Paris Agreement in President Donald Trump's first term, though it is still on the hook with a similar G7 commitment. Oil Change International found that the European Union, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Japan were still spending billions of dollars in public funds on fossil fuel projects.
That said, Norway, Australia, Spain, and Sweden have all shown progress on cutting ties. Eleven of the 17 high-income members have existing or new policies that make contributions to the cause. The study showed public funding of fossil fuels has dropped by two-thirds since before the agreement, which works out to $15 billion less each year. Should signatories and the G7 meet their goals, $30.2 billion per year could be siphoned from fossil fuels and put toward renewables.
The agreement also encourages investment in renewable energy, but efforts are stuttering. The report said $21.3 billion had gone from the member organizations into clean energy in 2023. This is compared to $26 billion in 2022 and an average of $18.4 billion annually between 2019 and 2021, prior to the CETP.
Reducing oil, gas, and coal production is vital to slowing their use and hastening their replacement with sustainable alternatives, which include solar, wind, and hydro. Fossil fuel usage generates the lion's share of pollution, which is exacerbating destructive weather events and heating the world's oceans.
Despite political headwinds in the United States, there's reason to be optimistic.
"The CETP initiative has been successful in bringing down fossil fuel finance, and it will make even more progress with or without the Trump administration," said Oil Change International strategist Adam McGibbon, per Sustainable Views.
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