Is the Netherlands’ export credit insurance support for fossil projects legal?
Today, two independent experts brought out a legal opinion on the obligations of countries and their export credit agencies under international law in relation to export support for fossil fuels. According to the report, emissions by fossil fuels and the related infrastructure need to be reduced urgently.
Many export credit agencies (ECAs) continue to provide billions of euros in government-backed support to fossil projects. This also applies to Dutch ECA Atradius DSB. These projects not only increase emissions of greenhouse gases but also obstruct the transition to a sustainable economy in the Netherlands and elsewhere. This transition is however becoming increasingly urgent, if we are to achieve the goal laid down in the Paris Agreement to keep global warming below 1.5°C.
In the report, commissioned by Oil Change International, the authors analyse the obligations of states, whether acting through official ECAs or in relation to separate ECAs regulated by them, under international law.
The legal opinion was drawn up by lawyer Kate Cook of London-based law firm Matrix Chambers, an expert in international law, climate law and human rights, and professor Jorge E. Viñuales of the University of Cambridge, an expert in international law, climate and energy law, and investment law. In the report, they draw clear conclusions: 'If the extremely dangerous consequences of climate change are to be averted, ... there is no room for additional fossil fuel capacity and existing capacity or its emissions must be reduced urgently and proactively.'
Five clear recommendations
According to the authors, countries must take the following five steps to comply with their international obligations in relation to export credit support and climate change:
a) not to finance new fossil fuel-related projects/activities or increase the financing of existing ones;
b) to decrease existing support within a clear timeframe dictated, first and foremost, by scientific considerations;
c) to proactively avoid 'locking-in' fossil fuel-related projects/activities which may use up a significant part of the remaining carbon budget;
d) to adopt and proactively implement adequate procedures to assess the carbon footprint of any project to be potentially supported;
e) to adopt and proactively implement guidelines concerning the performance of the activities of the relevant ECA in the context of climate change.
Export Finance for Future coalition
Three weeks ago, the Netherlands and a number of other countries launched the Export Finance for Future coalition. The Netherlands wishes to play an active role in the coalition and is organising its next meeting. We see this as an excellent opportunity to ensure that the coalition complies with prevailing obligations under international law to terminate ECA support for the fossil sector.
Together with Oil Change International and Dutch environmental organisation Milieudefensie, Both ENDS has drawn the attention of the Ministries of Finance and Foreign Affairs to the legal opinion.
Read more about this subject
-
Dossier /Paris Proof Export Support
Almost two-thirds of the export credit insurances that Atradius DSB provided in the 2012-2018 period went to the fossil energy sector. That is contrary to the climate agreements that the Netherlands signed in Paris.
-
Dossier /Export Credit Agencies: Who pays the price?
Both ENDS calls on the government only to provide export credit insurance to sustainable projects that cause no social and/or environmental damage in the countries where they take place.
-
Dossier /Gas in Mozambique
In 2011 one of the world’s largest gas reserves was found in the coastal province of Cabo Delgado, in the north of Mozambique. A total of 35 billion dollars has been invested to extract the gas. Dozens of multinationals and financiers are involved in these rapid developments. It is very difficult for the people living in Cabo Delgado to exert influence on the plans and activities, while they experience the negative consequences. With the arrival of these companies, they are losing their land.
-
Press release / 2 december 2025End of Dutch involvement in controversial gas project in Mozambique in sight after TotalEnergies withdraws from Dutch insurance
THE HAGUE/CABO DELGADO, December 1, 2025 - Today, Minister of Finance Eelco Heinen announced that TotalEnergies is withdrawing from a $640 million Dutch export credit insurance policy for a controversial gas project in Mozambique. Although the Dutch government has been avoiding this decision for years, this move has finally ended part of the Dutch involvement in this disastrous project.
-
Publication / 9 oktober 2025
-
Dossier /Towards a socially and environmentally just energy transition
To address the climate crisis we need to urgently transition away from fossil fuels towards clean, renewable energy. However, this transition is not only about changing energy sources. It requires an inclusive and fair process that tackles systemic inequalities and demanding consumption patterns, prioritizes environmental and social justice, and which does not repeat mistakes from the past.
-
News / 17 juli 2025Call on the UN to Investigate Serious Human Rights Violations in Mozambique
UN urged to investigate allegations of severe Human Rights violations committed by Mozambique Security Forces at gas site. Local chiefs in Mozambique and international NGOs warn that current inquiries lack independence and fail to guarantee justice and protection for victims. They call for an investigation led by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, as the only way to ensure a fair, impartial, safe and victim-centred process. The inquiry should also investigate members of the Joint Task force in charge of protecting the site of TotalEnergies Mozambique LNG Project.
-
Dossier /Fair Green and Global Alliance (FGG)
Together with civil society organisations from all over the world, the Fair Green and Global (FGG) Alliance aims for socially just, inclusive and environmentally sustainable societies in the Netherlands and the Global South.
-
News / 2 juli 2025 -
Publication / 1 juli 2025
-
Publication / 1 juli 2025
-
Letter / 15 april 2025
African civil society urges Oman against EACOP support as east Africa trade expo kicks off
Just one day before the Oman East Africa Trade and Investment
Expo opens in Muscat on April 16, over 70 civil society organisations (CSOs) from Uganda, Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and beyond have published an open letter urging the Government of Oman to refrain from providing financial or diplomatic support for the controversial East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP). -
Blog / 31 maart 2025International cooperation and solidarity are in the interest of both the Netherlands and Africa
Traditional development aid keeps Africa in a state of aid dependency, but development cooperation is essential to break this post-colonial dependency, argues Melvin van der Veen in response to an interview in NRC Handelsblad with the Cameroonian economist Célestin Monga. By breaking off this cooperation on the basis of equality, we are actually stifling the voices of African civil society organisations, indigenous communities, youth and women's movements and human rights defenders, and we are not solving global problems.
-
News / 18 maart 2025Abuses surrounding TotalEnergies‘ LNG project in Mozambique are piling up; Dutch support irresponsible
On Friday 14 March, the French Public Prosecutor's Office announced that it would launch an official investigation into TotalEnergies’ involvement in involuntary manslaughter during the attacks on Palma, the location of their LNG project. This umpteenth abuse makes it clear that the Netherlands cannot in any way provide public support for this project.
-
News / 4 maart 2025Feminist March 2025: let's take to the streets for gender justice
Women's rights are under pressure worldwide, and hard-fought rights and freedoms are being dismantled. Whereas until recently the Netherlands was a champion of emancipation, women's rights and gender justice, the current cabinet is breaking with this policy and abandoning millions of women and girls. That is why Both ENDS, together with many other allies, will be taking to the streets on 8 March. It is time to make a strong stand against the dismantling of gender policy and to stand up for gender equality and social justice.
-
News / 21 februari 2025Cabinet turns its back on international cooperation and solidarity with callous policy letter
Foreign Trade and Development Minister Klever's published policy letter is coldhearted and callous. It places the Netherlands in international isolation and abandons the most vulnerable people worldwide, including many women, farmers, indigenous peoples and youth.
-
Dossier /The Climate lawsuit against Shell
Both ENDS is co-plaintiff in the climate lawsuit brought by Milieudefensie (Friends of the Earth The Netherlands) in 2018 against Shell to stop the company from causing harm to the climate. In 2021, the judge ruled in favor of the climate, but unfortunately the company appealed. The court will therefore render its verdict at the end of 2024.
-
Blog / 28 januari 2025Sinking promises in Manila
Yesterday, Global Witness published a new report, "Sunk Costs" - in which I had a modest role to play - that comes up with new facts about the disastrous New Manila International Airport project in the Philippines, for which the Dutch dredging multinational Boskalis received Dutch export credit insurance (ekv) of €1.5 billion.
-
Press release / 12 december 2024Website names companies excluded by global investors and banks
The Hague/San Francisco, Dec 12, 2024 - The updated version of the Financial Exclusions Tracker is released today: financialexclusionstracker.org. The website tracks which companies are being excluded by institutional investors, pension funds and banks due to human rights, public health and sustainability issues. The most common reasons for exclusion are links to fossil fuels, weapons or tobacco.
The Financial Exclusions Tracker is an initiative from an international coalition of NGOs striving for more transparency and information disclosure.
-
Blog / 18 november 2024The global rise of authoritarian regimes demands global strategies
The global funding landscape for civil society movements is changing, and is increasingly faced with policies that restrict funding streams, limit philanthropic work, and silence critical voices. These are not incidental shifts but part of a broader pattern that erodes the support for those international networks and movements under the guise ‘necessary financial cuts’, ‘aid reform’ or ‘efficiency’.
