Human rights responsibilities for development and export credit agencies’ conduct

2019 ◽  
pp. 102-102
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Export Credit ◽  
Export Credit Agencies

Establishing a Corporate Responsibility Ombudsman: Enhancing remedy through state-based non-judicial mechanisms?

2021 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 102-122
Author(s):  
Juho Saloranta
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Corporate Responsibility ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Sufficient Evidence ◽  
Export Credit ◽  
Due Diligence ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Credit Financing ◽  
Human Rights Due Diligence

This article assesses the efficiency of non-judicial grievance mechanisms in providing victims of corporate human rights violations with improved access to remedy. As no such mechanism is currently available, this article formulates a proposal for a new mechanism in the form of a corporate responsibility ombudsman, which would offer a great deal of flexibility as well as being an inexpensive, expeditious and informal manner of dealing with such issues. The article argues in favour of utilizing states’ regulatory arsenal to improve victims’ access to remedy extraterritorially. Based on recent international developments, I elaborate approaches to human rights due diligence regulation and export credit financing by means of two corporate responsibility ombudsman proposals. In relation to these proposals, I divide the effectiveness criteria of Principle 31 of the United Nations Guiding Principles into three main categories: empowerment, investigation and enforcement. Since obtaining sufficient evidence is of paramount to those seeking remedies for violations of corporate responsibility, states should bestow quasi-judicial powers on corporate responsibility ombudsmen to achieve efficiency, which could also create legitimacy. This article provides decision-makers and scholars with insights into how access to remedy could be synchronized with the momentum of human rights due diligence legislation in the European Union and beyond.

scholarly journals Towards Net Zero export credit: current approaches and next steps

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Hale ◽  
Andreas Klasen ◽  
Norman Ebner ◽  
Bianca Krämer ◽  
Anastasia Kantzelis
Keyword(s):  
Business Models ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Export Credit ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Climate Targets ◽  
Net Zero ◽  
The Many ◽  
The One ◽  
Investment Portfolios ◽  
Export Credit Agencies

As the world economy rapidly decarbonises to meet global climate goals, the export credit sector must keep pace. Countries representing over two-thirds of global GDP have now set net zero targets, as have hundreds of private financial institutions. Public and private initiatives are now working to develop new standards and methodologies for shifting investment portfolios to decarbonisation pathways based on science. However, export credit agencies (ECAs) are only at the beginning stages of this seismic transformation. On the one hand, the net zero transition creates risks to existing business models and clients for the many ECAs, while on the other, it creates a significant opportunity for ECAs to refocus their support to help countries and trade partners meet their climate targets. ECAs can best take advantage of this transition, and minimise its risks, by setting net zero targets and adopting credible plans to decarbonise their portfolios. Collaboration across the sector can be a powerful tool for advancing this goal.

8 Official Funding Sources: Export Credit Agencies

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Borisoff Alexander ◽  
Pendleton Andrew ◽  
Blundell Lewis
Keyword(s):  
Natural Resources ◽  
Financial Institutions ◽  
Government Policy ◽  
Pivotal Role ◽  
Export Credit ◽  
Infrastructure Projects ◽  
Market Participants ◽  
Funding Sources ◽  
Border Trade ◽  
Export Credit Agencies

This chapter focuses on export credit agencies (ECAs). ECAs are government-backed suppliers of financing and other credit support. As enablers of government policy and ‘soft diplomacy’, they possess a variety of tools that are not available to commercial financial institutions alone. Among the most important of these tools is the ability to offer financial terms that are more competitive than those available in the market. ECAs are able to provide financial liquidity in challenging times, making them attractive market participants in all types of credit environments. ECAs are an essential source of capital for the financing of cross-border trade, including for the financing of major infrastructure projects worldwide. In the coming years ECAs will likely continue to play a pivotal role in the financing of global energy, natural resources and infrastructure projects.

scholarly journals How Rising Powers Create Governance Gaps: The Case of Export Credit and the Environment

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 34-52 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristen Hopewell
Keyword(s):  
Global Governance ◽  
Environmental Governance ◽  
Export Credit ◽  
Due Diligence ◽  
Rising Powers ◽  
Environmental Implications ◽  
Environmental Practices ◽  
Energy Projects ◽  
Emerging Powers ◽  
Export Credit Agencies

This article analyzes how rising powers are affecting an important area of global governance at the intersection of trade and environment: export credit. State-backed export credit agencies (ECAs) play a major role in financing large infrastructure and energy projects, particularly in developing countries. Many of these projects carry significant environmental implications, yet there has been little scholarly attention to their governance. Since the 1990s, global governance of the environmental practices of ECAs has been progressively expanded and strengthened via the OECD Arrangement on export credit and Common Approaches for environmental and social due diligence. Recently, however, there has been a dramatic increase in export credit provision by rising powers, such as India and China, who are not members of the OECD nor subject to the Arrangement or Common Approaches. In this article, I argue that existing governance mechanisms have not caught up with the rapidly changing landscape of export credit. Drawing on the case of India’s financing for the Rampal coal-fired power plant in Bangladesh, I show that the problem of environmental governance for export credit increasingly extends beyond the advanced-industrialized states of the OECD. The failure to cover the large and growing volume of export credit provided by the emerging powers represents a major gap in the established system of environmental governance for export credit.

Design and Construction of the Nchanga Copper Tailings Leach Plant Stage 3

1987 ◽  
Vol 201 (2) ◽  
pp. 77-90
Author(s):  
P R Hampsheir
Keyword(s):  
Process Design ◽  
Export Credit ◽  
Development Organizations ◽  
Full Production ◽  
Plant Stage ◽  
Copper Mines ◽  
The Third World ◽  
Transport Problems ◽  
Export Credit Agencies

The Nchanga Division of Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines Limited (ZCCM), the largest producing copper mine in the Commonwealth, has recently commissioned a new plant for reprocessing copper rich tailings. The tailings, some 140 million tonnes in total, are stored in large paddock dams. This paper records the problems and successes involved in completing the design, procurement and construction of the project, on time and ten per cent below budget. Design and project management was by Zambia Engineering Services Limited in Ashford, Kent, a subsidiary of ZCCM, and project funding was from a consortium of international hanks, export credit agencies and development organizations. The subjects dealt with include process design, project capital and funding, management, design and the use of models, estimating and cost control, planning, purchasing and procurement, construction and commissioning. The paper also highlights the problems associated with funding a new project of this type in the Third World in a depressed metals market, and the role of engineering in overcoming financial delays and transport problems. Commissioning started in April 1986 and the plant is now coming up to full production with a few, but not unexpected, problems bearing in mind the size and complexity of the plant. With the addition of stage 3 to the tailings leach plant at Nchanga throughput of ore is increased from 850 000 tonnes/month to 1500 000 tonnes/month and copper output by 40 000 tonnes/annum for a total cost of $250 M.

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