Finance for fossils – The role of public financing in expanding petrochemicals

Skovgaard, JakobLund University,Lunds universitet,Statsvetenskapliga institutionen,Samhällsvetenskapliga institutioner och centrumbildningar,Samhällsvetenskapliga fakulteten,Department of Political Science,Departments of Administrative, Economic and Social Sciences,Faculty of Social Sciences (author)

The petrochemicals industry (mainly plastics and fertilizer production) is expanding, despite increasing attention to the environmental impact of petrochemicals. In our paper, we explore the role public finance plays in the petrochemicals industry. We do so by mapping the public and private financial flows into large-scale petrochemical projects for the decade 2010-20 and discuss the role of public financial institutions for the development of the industry globally. Secondly, we provide a detailed analysis of the roles international and national public finance has in enabling two prominent petrochemical projects: namely the Sadara plant in Saudi Arabia and the Surgil plant in Uzbekistan. The cases are illustrative of the dynamics of state interest and involvement in fossil fuel producing countries as well as of lending and guarantees from foreign export credit agencies (ECAs) and development finance institutions, and how such public finance plays an important role in leveraging private finance. Our findings show how public finance for petrochemicals is highly globalized and to a large degree originates in developed countries. As these industrial infrastructures are designed to last decades, the public finance thus strongly contributes to the carbon lock-in of the sector and limits the possibilities for low-carbon investments needed to comply with the UN Paris Agreement.

Finkill, Guy DavidLund University,Lunds universitet,Statsvetenskapliga institutionen,Samhällsvetenskapliga institutioner och centrumbildningar,Samhällsvetenskapliga fakulteten,Department of Political Science,Departments of Administrative, Economic and Social Sciences,Faculty of Social Sciences(Swepub:lu)gu0073fi (author)
Bauer, FredricLund University,Lunds universitet,Miljö- och energisystem,Institutionen för teknik och samhälle,Institutioner vid LTH,Lunds Tekniska Högskola,Environmental and Energy Systems Studies,Department of Technology and Society,Departments at LTH,Faculty of Engineering, LTH(Swepub:lu)chem-fbe (author)
Åhman, MaxLund University,Lunds universitet,Miljö- och energisystem,Institutionen för teknik och samhälle,Institutioner vid LTH,Lunds Tekniska Högskola,Environmental and Energy Systems Studies,Department of Technology and Society,Departments at LTH,Faculty of Engineering, LTH(Swepub:lu)milj-mah (author)
Nielsen, TobiasIVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute(Swepub:lu)svet-ton (author)
Statsvetenskapliga institutionenSamhällsvetenskapliga institutioner och centrumbildningar (creator_code:org_t)

By the author/editor: Skovgaard, Jakob; Finkill, Guy Dav ...; Bauer, Fredric; Åhman, Max; Nielsen, Tobias

About the subject

SOCIAL SCIENCES: SOCIAL SCIENCES; and Other Social Sci ...; and Social Sciences ...

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY: ENGINEERING AND ...; and Environmental En ...; and Energy Systems

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