March 20, 2024— Civil society organizations Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN) and BankTrack will host a series of workshops March 20-21 for EP Limited, a consortium of 128 financial institutions that have adopted the Equator Principles (EP), a risk management framework used for “determining, assessing and managing environmental and social risk in projects and is primarily intended to provide a minimum standard for due diligence and monitoring to support responsible risk decision-making.”

The workshops are taking place after governments agreed to “transitioning away from fossil fuels” during the UNFCCC COP28. The International Energy Agency has also stated that there can be no new fossil fuels if countries want to meet the goals outlined in the Paris Climate Agreement. The workshops are informed by these important announcements, and will examine topics related to fossil fuel impacts and efforts to support a just transition.

The workshops will examine two primary topics and presenters include frontline women leaders, policy researchers, and global advocates. The first set of workshops will examine climate solutions for financial institutions with a specific focus on the problems of market-based carbon schemes and their lack of effectiveness in achieving climate goals. These workshops will also cover a presentation on COP28 outcomes and how to equitably transition from fossil fuels to clean energy. The second set of workshops will focus on due diligence challenges and opportunities, and will highlight voices of impacted community members from Peru, Uganda and the United States who are advocating to stop fossil fuel projects in their region.

These workshops are a continuation of ongoing engagements with EP Limited facilitated by WECAN and BankTrack since 2021.