The climate crisis and their climate commitments do not seem to have stood in the way of the world’s largest economies continuing to finance fossil fuel development in poor countries.

According to the Guardian website, some developed and developing G20 economies they allocated 142 billion dollars for fossil fuel development abroad from in 2020 to 2022, according to estimates compiled by the organizations Oil Change International (OCI) and Friends of the Earth US.

THE Canada, Japan and South Korea have been the largest sources of funding over these three years, with natural gas receiving more funding than coal or oil.

The G7 of the largest economies, which includes Japan and Canada, committed in 2022 to stop funding fossil fuels abroad. But while funding for coal declined rapidly, funding for oil and gas projects continued apace.

Some of the money goes to other developed economies, including Australia, but much of it is earmarked for the developing world. However, richer middle-income countries still receive more funding than poorer ones.

The OCI study focuses on the period from the start of the 2020-21 financial year for each country, to the end of the 2022-23 financial year. Despite their commitments, the study showed that Japan continued to make new fossil fuel investments abroad in the last weeks, i.e. until the middle of March 2024.

The World Bank provided about $1.2 billion annually in fossil fuels during the three years, of which approx two-thirds went to natural gas projects.

The USA, Germany and Italy they also provided billions in funding annually to fossil fuel projects overseas before the end of 2022-23, according to the report published on Tuesday. The UK provided about $600 million annually on average.

Canada provided just under $11 billion annually on average in 2020-2022, while South Korea provided $10 billion and Japan around $7 billion.

During the same three-year period, G20 economies allocated about $104 billion to clean energy development abroad, according to the report.

Claire O’Manique, public finance analyst at OCI, said: “While rich countries continue to drag their feet and claim they cannot afford to finance a globally just energy transition, countries such as Canada, Korea, Japan and the US appear to lack public resources for fossil fuels that they destroy the climate. We must continue to hold rich countries accountable for their role in financing the climate crisis and demand that they move first and faster to phase out fossil fuels, stop financing fossil fuels and pay their fair share.”

Makiko Arima, senior finance representative at the OCI, specifically called on Japan to stop supporting fossil fuels. Japan has lobbied behind the scenes to prevent the G7 countries from adopting a stronger stance on fossil fuels.