Civil Society Recommendations Regarding China Exim Bank's Environmental Policy

Date: 
Sunday, September 30, 2007

China Exim Bank has rapidly grown to become the world's largest export credit agency. The Bank is financing Chinese exports and investment projects around the world, including in environmentally sensitive sectors such as hydropower, oil and gas, and mining.

China Exim Bank adopted an environmental policy in November 2004, and released it to the public in April 2007. Environmental Defense and International Rivers prepared detailed recommendations regarding how this policy can be strengthened, and submitted them to China Exim Bank on September 10. The recommendations identify generally accepted elements of good practice in environmental assessment, and present illustrative examples of such practice from the policies of other financial institutions from industrialized and developing countries.

The recommendations were prepared by International Rivers and Environmental Defense in cooperation with The Corner House (UK), the international ECA Watch network, Friends of the Earth/US, Friends of Nature (China), Green Watershed (China), and Pacific Environment (USA).