President Lasso’s market-friendly stance will be a relief to foreign investors and bondholders
Ecuador’s new president faces growing ESG challenges
International lenders distance themselves from Amazonian oil sector under pressure from climate campaigners
Ecuador’s newly elected president, conservative ex-banker Guillermo Lasso, faces significant ESG constraints as he tries to deliver on an election promise to double the debt-laden Andean country’s oil production. Running in his third electoral campaign, Lasso overcame a double-digit disadvantage in the first round to defeat leftist rival Andres Arauz by a 5pc margin. Lasso’s market-friendly stance will be a welcome relief to both foreign investors and bondholders. Like much of Latin America, Ecuador and its oil sector has been ravaged by the pandemic, with the country’s public debt rising to $63bn by end-2020—65pc of GDP. “The Chinese experience has been pretty negative” Gavin, Verisk
Also in this section
22 July 2025
Sinopec hosts launch of global sharing platform as Beijing looks to draw on international investors and expertise
22 July 2025
Africa’s most populous nation puts cap-and-trade and voluntary markets at the centre of its emerging strategy to achieve net zero by 2060
17 July 2025
Oil and gas companies will face penalties if they fail to reach the EU’s binding CO₂ injection targets for 2030, but they could also risk building underused and unprofitable CCS infrastructure
9 July 2025
Latin American country plans a cap-and-trade system and supports the scale-up of CCS as it prepares to host COP30
