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Finance for Fossils – the Role of Public Financing in Expanding Petrochemicals

Skovgaard, Jakob LU ; Finkill, Guy David LU ; Bauer, Fredric LU orcid ; Åhman, Max LU and Nielsen, Tobias LU (2022)
Abstract
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 domestic public finance has in enabling two case studies of prominent petrochemical projects. Namely the Sadara plant in Saudi Arabia and the Surgil plant in Uzbekistan. The cases are illustrative of the... (More)
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 domestic public finance has in enabling two case studies of 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 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. (Less)
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author
; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Working paper/Preprint
publication status
published
subject
keywords
petrochemicals, finance, plastics, fertilizer, climate change, lock-in
publisher
Social Science Research Network (SSRN)
DOI
10.2139/ssrn.4141958
project
Petrochemicals and Climate Change: Mapping Power Structures
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
c4ae1f7a-a937-47ea-842a-7507aa399e76
date added to LUP
2023-01-25 09:12:40
date last changed
2023-05-10 09:39:24
@misc{c4ae1f7a-a937-47ea-842a-7507aa399e76,
  abstract     = {{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 domestic public finance has in enabling two case studies of 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 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.}},
  author       = {{Skovgaard, Jakob and Finkill, Guy David and Bauer, Fredric and Åhman, Max and Nielsen, Tobias}},
  keywords     = {{petrochemicals; finance; plastics; fertilizer; climate change; lock-in}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Preprint}},
  publisher    = {{Social Science Research Network (SSRN)}},
  title        = {{Finance for Fossils – the Role of Public Financing in Expanding Petrochemicals}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4141958}},
  doi          = {{10.2139/ssrn.4141958}},
  year         = {{2022}},
}