Export credit agencies (ECAs) are public entities that provide domestic corporations with government-backed loans, guarantees, credits and insurance to support exports and foreign investments.  ECAs largely focus on facilitating commerce in lesser developed countries and emerging economies, under conditions of significant political and financial risk.

The environmental and human rights impacts of ECA-supported exports and investments can be severe.  Export credit agencies have facilitated corporate activity that is associated with the forced displacement of local populations, paramilitary and police repression, workplace injuries, state-sponsored intimidation and censorship, exposure to environmental contaminants and biological pathogens, and the destruction of sacred cultural sites, among other adverse impacts. 

We work to :

• promote adherence by  Canadian companies to internationally accepted standards regarding human rights, environment and development;
• use specific projects to highlight the existing unsustainable lending practices of public international financial institutions (IFIs) and export credit agencies (ECAs) and reinforce the need for institutional reform;
• improve the legislation and policies that govern public disclosure by EDC, as well as the environmental and human rights performance of its clients; and
• to strengthen OECD policies for export credit agencies;

and to

• cease all lending for environmentally and socially destructive projects; 
• support communities both locally and globally in their struggle against publicly-financed Canadian companies.

• FAQs - ECAs and EDC
• Glossary of Financial Terms
• Key contacts
• Links

ECA-Related

• Mining Map
• Official correspondence
• Reports and analysis
• Statements and submissions
• Work on specific ECA-funded projects

Archives

• Dirty Business, Dirty Practice - How the Federal Government Supports Mining, Oil and Gas Abroad