UK Export Finance (UKEF) was the world’s top export credit agency for sustainable financing in 2021, with over £3.6bn awarded to UK businesses to help deliver clean energy, healthcare and critical infrastructure projects across the globe.

UKEF moved up from second place in the global rankings last year and has now provided over £7bn to sustainable projects since 2019, according to Trade & Export Finance Limited (TXF).

Announced in Lisbon at TXF’s Global Export Finance Conference, the UK’s export credit agency was also awarded plaudits for its leading work in sustainable finance for three transactions:

Renewables Export Finance Deal of the Year: £210m to support the construction of a major offshore wind facility in Taiwan, helping to power over 650,000 homes.

Healthcare Export Finance Deal of the Year: £130m for six new hospitals in Côte D’Ivoire, reaching a combined catchment of more than one million people.

Rail Transport Export Finance Deal of the Year: £1.1bn to help fund the construction of a 503km high-speed electric railway from Ankara to Izmir, a lower-carbon alternative to current air and road routes.

UK Export Finance CEO Louis Taylor said: “2021 was the year where UKEF has led the world of export finance into a more sustainable future. I am proud that our work in leading the way globally has been recognised today and we will continue to use the power of our finance to make the world a better, more prosperous and sustainable place.”

UKEF is continuing to support critical green infrastructure projects overseas while backing UK businesses to export and grow, helping foreign countries finance important infrastructure projects if they commit to sourcing goods and services from the UK. This creates new export opportunities for UK companies and supports jobs.

Other sustainable projects backed by UKEF in 2021 included:

• £260m to support the largest solar facility in Türkiye, capable of providing up to 20% of the country’s energy production and enough power for two million homes.
• £210m to support the construction of a major offshore wind facility in Taiwan, helping to power over 650,000 homes.
• £150m for the 2nd phase of construction of the largest market in Ghana, improving environmental and health and safety measures.
• £42m to support the export of 87 emergency bridges for use in flood-hit areas across Ghana.
• £38m for the construction of the Sharjah Environment Company LLC green headquarters powered by solar energy in the UAE.

Accolades were awarded at the Global Export Finance Conference, in UKEF’s first year since ending financial support for overseas fossil fuel projects.

In 2021, UKEF became one of the world’s first export credit agencies to launch a Climate Change Strategy and commit to decarbonising its existing portfolio by 2050. To do this, it intends to increase its support for sustainable projects using its £50bn capacity to support UK exports and align with the government’s Ten Point Plan for a Green Industrial Revolution.