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US Ex-Im Bank reverses ban on coal lending abroad, observers say

Three people who attended the meeting said that the board of the U.S. Export-Import Bank voted to reverse a long-standing restriction on lending for coal projects abroad. This reflects President Donald Trump's agenda, which calls for increased domestic coal mining and exports from the United States. The vote came less than one month after President Donald Trump issued an executive directive aimed at revitalizing the U.S. Coal Industry. This included a measure that directed Ex-Im to provide facilities for coal developers. The federal bank that finances overseas projects had tried to take climate change into account in its investment decisions during the Biden administration. It had also not funded a coal project in more than 10 years.

Ex-Im’s decision to use U.S. tax payer money to finance overseas coal project is an economic disaster and climate catastrophe. Ex-Im is reverting to its policies of two decades ago, when the company was the world's largest financier of overseas coal projects," Jake Schmidt, senior strategist at Natural Resources Defense Council and an observer of the board meeting, said.

Ex-Im has not responded to our request for a comment. (Reporting and editing by Paul Simao; Valerie Volcovici)

(source: Reuters)