SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
For Immediate Release
May, 12 2023, 11:33am EDT
Contact:
Email: info [at] priceofoil.org
Biden breaks major G7 climate promise by financing Indonesian oil refinery
Policy undermines public finance shift to clean energy, prolonging fossil-fuelled energy crisis and undermining energy security
U.S. President Joe Biden has broken a major climate promise to end public finance for fossil fuels, with the United States Export Import Bank (US EXIM) voting this week to provide almost USD 100 million in export finance to expand the PT Kilang Pertamina Balikpapan Petroleum Refinery in Indonesia.
At the United Nations COP26 climate summit in November 2021, 39 countries and financial institutions, including the United States, signed the Glasgow Statement on International Public Support for the Clean Energy Transition, committing signatories to end direct international public financing for fossil fuels by the end of 2022, barring in exceptional circumstances aligned with 1.5ºC, and fully prioritize their public finance for the clean energy transition. If all signatories follow through on their pledges with integrity, this commitment will directly shift USD 28 billion per year from fossil fuels to clean energy and help shift even larger sums of public and private money away from investments in climate-harming fossil fuels.
While many nations including Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Denmark, Sweden, and Finland have published policies codifying their Glasgow Statement promises, the United States has refused to publish a policy and is now clearly breaking its pledge.
The refinery finance approval comes as Biden prepares to attend the G7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan, on May 19. Last year the G7 adopted a pledge near-identical to the Glasgow Statement, reiterating a collective commitment to end international public finance for fossil fuels by the end of 2022. Last month, the G7 Climate, Environment and Energy Ministers claimed they have fulfilled this commitment. The approval of U.S. financing for the Indonesian refinery, alongside recent approvals for public finance for fossil fuel projects by Japan and Italy, show that this is untrue.
The approval comes despite widespread opposition in the United States and Indonesia, with civil society outlining many problems with the project, including local fire risk, a concerning history of large oil spills, failure to engage with communities, inadequate environmental impact assessments, and climate risk. The project runs against established climate science, with the International Energy Agency’s Net Zero by 2050 scenario warning that for even a 50% chance of keeping global temperatures rise under 1.5ºC, oil demand must drop, inevitably leading to oil refinery closures. The IEA reports that the refining sector faces “major challenges”. This means that the Indonesia refinery expansion is not only incompatible with climate goals, but also financially risky, with high risk that the project will become a stranded asset.
This move will also damage U.S. energy security and prolong an energy crisis caused by fossil fuels. In October 2022, the International Energy Agency published its authoritative World Energy Outlook, showing oil, gas, and coal demand plateauing this decade, and confirms that no new oil and gas investment can be permitted if the world is to keep to the Paris Agreement’s 1.5ºC goal. The IEA states, “No one should imagine Russia’s invasion can justify a wave of new oil and gas infrastructure in a world that wants to reach net zero emissions by 2050.” This means any further public finance for fossil fuels will only exacerbate the energy crisis, not solve it. In response to the approval, Oil Change International experts released the following statements:
Adam McGibbon, Public Finance Strategist at Oil Change International, said:
“Biden’s claims to be a climate leader are increasingly laughable after EXIM’s approval of this refinery. Biden has broken the most significant climate promise the United States made at the 2021 Glasgow climate conference.
“If he can’t be trusted to keep this relatively modest promise, how can anyone trust the United States to live up to its even grander climate promises?
“Other Glasgow Statement signatories and G7 members must not allow Biden to derail implementation. Shifting finance out of fossil fuels and into clean energy is key not just for meeting climate goals, but also to end the energy crisis.”
Collin Rees, United States Program Manager at Oil Change International, said:
“Despite President Biden breaking many of his core climate promises, the Biden administration has pointed to its promise to end public finance for fossil fuels as a sign that it remains committed to global leadership on climate. This approval of nearly $100 million in public finance for a harmful oil refinery reveals those claims as nothing but empty promises.
“Lending his support to devastating fossil fuel development like the Willow oil project, Alaska LNG, Gulf Coast exports, and the Mountain Valley Pipeline is bad enough, but this approval shows the United States is committed to doing the fossil fuel industry’s bidding in all corners of the world. This dirty refinery would threaten the air, land, and water of communities in Indonesia, making a mockery of Biden’s purported commitment to environmental justice.”
Oil Change International is a research, communications, and advocacy organization focused on exposing the true costs of fossil fuels and facilitating the ongoing transition to clean energy.
(202) 518-9029LATEST NEWS
100+ Democrats Urge Trump to Improve US-Mexico-Canada Trade Deal
"We are united in our view that the agreement enacted in 2020 has failed to deliver improvements for American workers, family farmers, and communities nationwide."
Nov 03, 2025
A group of more than 100 congressional Democrats on Monday called on President Donald Trump to use the opportunity presented by the mandatory review of the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement "to make significant and necessary improvements to the pact" that will benefit American workers and families.
"In 2020, some of us supported USMCA, some opposed it, and some were not in Congress," the lawmakers wrote in a letter to Trump led by Reps. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) and Frank Mrvan (D-Ind.). "Today, we are united in our view that the agreement enacted in 2020 has failed to deliver improvements for American workers, family farmers, and communities nationwide."
The USMCA replaced the highly controversial North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which was enacted during the administration of then-Democratic President Bill Clinton in 1994 after being signed by former Republican President George H.W. Bush in 1992. The more recent agreement contains a mandatory six-year review.
As the lawmakers' letter notes:
Since enactment of the USMCA, multinational corporations have continued to use the threat of offshoring as leverage wielded against workers standing up for dignity on the job and a share of the profits generated by their hard work—and far too often, enabled by our trade deals, companies have acted on these threats. The US trade deficit with Mexico and Canada has significantly increased, and surging USMCA imports have undermined American workers and farmers and firms in the auto, steel, aerospace, and other sectors. Under the current USMCA rules, this ongoing damage is likely to worsen: Since USMCA, Chinese companies have increased their investment in manufacturing in Mexico to skirt US trade enforcement sanctions against unfair Chinese imports of products like electric vehicles and to take advantage of Mexico’s duty-free access to the US consumer market under the USMCA.
These disappointing results contrast with your claims at the time of the USMCA’s launch, when you promised Americans that the pact would remedy the NAFTA trade deficit, bring “jobs pouring into the United States,” and be “an especially great victory for our farmers.”
Those farmers are facing numerous troubles, not least of which are devastating tariffs resulting from Trump's trade war with much of the world. In order to strengthen the USMCA to protect them and others, the lawmakers recommend measures including but not limited to boosting labor enforcement and stopping offshoring, building a real "Buy North American" supply chain, and standing up for family farmers.
"The USMCA must... be retooled to ensure it works for family farmers and rural communities," the letter states. "Under the 2020 USMCA, big agriculture corporations have raked in enormous profits while family farmers and working people in rural communities suffered."
"We believe that an agreement that includes the improvements that we note in this letter" will "ensure the USMCA delivers real benefits for American workers, farmers, and businesses, [and] can enjoy wide bipartisan support," the lawmakers concluded.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Land Degradation Threatens Billions of Lives Worldwide, Warns UN Food Agency
"Sustainable land management requires enabling environments that support long-term investment, innovation, and stewardship," said the head of the Food and Agriculture Organization.
Nov 03, 2025
A report published Monday by a United Nations agency revealed that nearly 1 in 5 people on Earth live in regions affected by failing crop yields driven by human-induced land degradation, “a pervasive and silent crisis that is undermining agricultural productivity and threatening ecosystem health worldwide."
According to the latest UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) State of Food and Agriculture report, "Today, nearly 1.7 billion people live in areas where land degradation contributes to yield losses and food insecurity."
"These impacts are unevenly distributed: In high-income countries, degradation is often masked by intensive input use, while in low-income countries, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, yield gaps are driven by limited access to inputs, credit, and markets," the publication continues. "The convergence of degraded land, poverty, and malnutrition creates vulnerability hotspots that demand urgent, targeted and, comprehensive responses."
#LandDegradation threatens land's ability to sustain us. The good news: Reversing 10% of degraded cropland can produce food for an additional 154 million people.
▶️Learn how smarter policies & greener practices can turn agriculture into a force for land restoration.
#SOFA2025 pic.twitter.com/8U3yQk9lX4
— Food and Agriculture Organization (@FAO) November 3, 2025
In order to measure land degradation, the report's authors compared three key indicators of current conditions in soil organic carbon, soil erosion, and soil water against conditions that would exist without human alteration of the environment. That data was then run through a machine-learning model that considers environmental and socioeconomic factors driving change to estimate the land’s baseline state without human activity.
Land supports over 95% of humanity's food production and provides critical ecosystem services that sustain life on Earth. Land degradation—which typically results from a combination of factors including natural drivers like soil erosion and salizination and human activities such as deforestation, overgrazing, and unsustainable irrigation practices—threatens billions of human and other lives.
The report notes the importance of land to living beings:
Since the invention of agriculture 12,000 years ago, land has played a central role in sustaining civilizations. As the fundamental resource of agrifood systems, it interacts with natural systems in complex ways, influencing soil quality, water resources, and biodiversity, while securing global food supplies and supporting the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Biophysically, it consists of a range of components including soil, water, flora, and fauna, and provides numerous ecosystem services including nutrient cycling, carbon sequestration, and water purification, all of which are subject to climate and weather conditions.
Socioeconomically, land supports many sectors such as agriculture, forestry, livestock, infrastructure development, mining, and tourism. Land is also deeply woven into the cultures of humanity, including those of Indigenous peoples, whose unique agrifood systems are a profound expression of ancestral lands and territories, waters, nonhuman relatives, the spiritual realm, and their collective identity and self-determination. Land, therefore, functions as the basis for human livelihoods and well-being.
"At its core, land is an essential resource for agricultural production, feeding billions of people worldwide and sustaining employment for millions of agrifood workers," the report adds. "Healthy soils, with their ability to retain water and nutrients, underpin the cultivation of crops, while pastures support livestock; together they supply diverse food products essential to diets and economies."
The report recommends steps including reversing 10% of all human-caused land degradation on existing cropland by implementing crop rotation and other sustainable management practices, which the authors say could produce enough food to feed an additional 154 million people annually.
"Reversing land degradation on existing croplands through sustainable land use and management could close yield gaps to support the livelihoods of hundreds of millions of producers," FAO Director-General Dongyu Qu wrote in the report’s foreword. "Additionally, restoring abandoned cropland could feed hundreds of millions more people."
"These findings represent real opportunities to improve food security, reduce pressure on natural ecosystems, and build more resilient agrifood systems," Qu continued. "To seize these opportunities, we must act decisively. Sustainable land management requires enabling environments that support long-term investment, innovation, and stewardship."
"Secure land tenure—for both individuals and communities—is essential," he added. "When land users have confidence in their rights, they are more likely to invest in soil conservation, crop diversity and productivity."
Keep ReadingShow Less
GOP Blocks Democratic Resolution Demanding 'Unbelievably Cruel' Trump Fully Fund SNAP
"Trump cares more about playing politics than making sure kids don't starve," said Sen. Jeff Merkley. "Kids and families are not poker chips or hostages. Trump must release the entirety of the SNAP funds immediately."
Nov 03, 2025
After President Donald Trump's administration announced Monday that it would partially fund the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program for November to comply with a federal court order, a Republican senator blocked congressional Democrats' resolution demanding full funding for the SNAP benefits of 42 million Americans during the US government shutdown.
"Trump is using food as a weapon against children, families, and seniors to enact his 'Make Americans Hungry Agenda,'" declared Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), who is spearheading the measure with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY).
"It's unbelievably cruel, but Trump cares more about playing politics than making sure kids don't starve," he continued. "Kids and families are not poker chips or hostages. Trump must release the entirety of the SNAP funds immediately."
Merkley on Monday night attempted to pass the resolution by unanimous consent, but Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) blocked the bill and blamed congressional Democrats for the shutdown, which is nearly the longest in US history.
The government shut down at the beginning of last month because the GOP majorities in Congress wanted to advance their spending plans, while Democrats in the Senate—where Republicans need some Democratic support to pass most legislation—refused to back a funding bill that didn't repeal recent Medicaid cuts and extend expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies.
Then, the Trump administration threatened not to pay out any SNAP benefits in November and claimed it couldn't use billions of dollars in emergency funding to cover even some of the $8 billion in monthly food stamps. Thanks to a pair of federal lawsuits and Friday rulings, the US Department of Agriculture on Monday agreed to use $4.65 billion from the contingency fund to provide partial payments. However, the USDA refuses to use Section 32 tax revenue to cover the rest of what families are supposed to get, and absent an end to the shutdown, there's no plan for any future payments.
"The Trump administration should stop weaponizing hunger for 42 million Americans and immediately release full—not partial—SNAP benefits," Schumer said in a statement, after also speaking out on the Senate floor Monday. "As the courts have affirmed, USDA has and must use their authority to fully fund SNAP. Anything else is unacceptable and a half-measure. The Senate must pass this resolution, and Trump must end his manufactured hunger crisis by fully funding SNAP."
The resolution states that the Trump administration "is legally obligated" to the use of the contingency fund for the program, "has the legal authority and the funds to finance SNAP through the month of November," and should "immediately" do so.
The resolution—backed by all members of the Senate Democratic Caucus except Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania—stresses that "exercising this power is extremely important for the health and wellness of families experiencing hunger, including about 16,000,000 children, 8,000,000 seniors, 4,000,000 people with disabilities, and 1,200,000 veterans."
Congresswomen Suzanne Bonamici (D-Ore.) and Jahana Hayes (D-Conn.) planned to introduce a companion resolution in the House of Representatives. Hayes noted Monday that "never in the history of the program has funding for SNAP lapsed and people been left hungry."
Bonamici said that "the Trump administration finally agreed to release funding that Congress set aside to keep people from going hungry during a disruption like this shutdown, but it should not have taken a lawsuit to get these funds released. Now the House Republicans need to get back to Washington, DC and work to get the government back open."
This article was updated after an unsuccessful attempt to pass the resolution.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular