BANKS DODGY DEALS CAMPAIGNS
About BankTrack
20 years of BankTrack – Our history
Visit us
Organisation
Our team
Our board
Guiding principles
Team up with us
Jobs at BankTrack
Our annual reports
Funding and finances
BankTrack in the media
Our privacy policy
Donate
2023-11-20 00:00:00
West Cumbria Coal Mine: dodgy mine, dodgier financier
2023-11-08 00:00:00
Westpac takes two steps forward, one big step back
2023-09-18 00:00:00
New report and blog: Barclays' bond with Adani
2023-08-23 00:00:00
Decarbonization: steel not making the cut
2023-11-20 11:26:40
Danske Bank excludes financing for oil and gas upstream expansion
2023-09-19 16:11:58
Société Générale announces leading climate policy on gas
2023-09-15 17:34:10
The number of major banks refusing to support EACOP reaches 24
2023-07-31 14:30:01
Equator Principles recognise projects’ risk to climate for the first time
Connect
2023-10-10 00:00:00
Still bankrolling coal (for steel)
2023-09-18 00:00:00
Barclays' bond with Adani
2023-06-26 00:00:00
How should financiers align with the Global Biodiversity Framework? Five Key Principles
2023-04-13 00:00:00
Banking on Climate Chaos 2023
See all publications
Sections
Banks Dodgy Deals Campaigns
Our campaigns
Banks and Climate
Banks and Human Rights
Banks and Nature
Banks and Pandemics
Our projects
Tracking the NZBA
End Coal Finance
Banks and Putin's war in Ukraine
Banks and steel
Tracking the Equator Principles
Tracking the PRBs
Find a Better Bank
Banks and the OECD Guidelines
Media
News Publications
Financial Exclusions Tracker Equator-Complaints.Org Fossil Banks No Thanks StopEACOP Forests & Finance Banks & Biodiversity Drop JBS Bank of Coal Don't Buy into Occupation
BankTrack
About BankTrack 20 years of BankTrack – Our history Visit us Organisation Our team Our board Guiding principles Team up with us Jobs at BankTrack Our annual reports Funding and finances BankTrack in the media Our privacy policy Donate
Successes Contact BankTrack
Donate Mailing list Facebook Twitter Login
Home › Partner news ›
Partner News

IFC stake in India’s 7th largest commercial bank results in no new coal commitment

2021-10-07
By: Centre for Financial Accountability India & Recourse
Contact:

For more information please contact:

Anuradha Munshi, CFA: anuradha@cenfa.org

Kate Geary, Recourse: kate@re-course.org

Coal mine in Dhanbad, India. Photo: https://www.flickr.com/photos/94088966@N00/182619562/, CC BY 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons
2021-10-07
By: Centre for Financial Accountability India & Recourse
Contact:

For more information please contact:

Anuradha Munshi, CFA: anuradha@cenfa.org

Kate Geary, Recourse: kate@re-course.org

A new report released today by Centre for Financial Accountability India and Recourse reveals how India’s 7th largest commercial bank – Federal Bank Limited – has turned its back on new coal. The bank received a $126 million equity investment from the International Finance Corporation (IFC) – the World Bank’s private sector arm – in July 2021, which came with strings attached.

Federal Bank has signed up to the IFC’s new Green Equity Approach, which supports clients to reduce coal exposure to zero, or near zero, by 2030. IFC’s project documents describe Federal Bank’s commitment to “terminate financing of development of any new coal-related assets, including coal-fired power plants once IFC becomes a shareholder in the Bank.” Federal Bank’s own Environmental and Social Management System confirms the step, adding to its exclusion list new thermal coal mines or significant expansion of existing mines, new coal-fired power plants or expansion of existing plants.

Anuradha Munshi of Centre for Financial Accountability in India said, “This is hugely important news, marking a significant change in direction for one of India’s top coal financiers. It sends a clear message to other banks in India – both state and commercial – that the era of coal is truly over. We hope there will now be a domino effect in India’s financial sector.”

The report catalogues Federal Bank’s extensive exposure to coal over the past 15 years. IFC has provided over $200 million in loans and equity to Federal Bank since 2006, during which period Federal Bank has backed coal mine and power plant expansion. Just in the last three years, according to the Global Coal Exit List – a database of coal companies and their financiers published by German campaign group Urgewald – Federal Bank has provided $14 million in loans to JSW Energy, which runs coal plants, imports coal from Indonesia and South Africa, and has shares in coal and lignite mines in India and South Africa.

While welcoming Federal Bank’s commitment to shun new coal investments, CFA and Recourse urge the bank to address the social and environmental harms its support for coal has already caused to communities.

Kate Geary of Recourse said, “To tackle the climate crisis, we urgently need to get finance out of fossils. The IFC has shown that it can help banking clients to stop backing dirty coal, but it needs to go further and faster. Its Green Equity Approach has great promise, but only if it reaches more clients and encourages a shift away from all fossil fuels, not just coal.”

Banks

Federal Bank Limited

India
Active
Sections
Banks Policies Dodgy Deals Campaigns
Our campaigns
Banks and Climate Banks and Human Rights Banks and Nature Banks and Pandemics
Our projects
Tracking the NZBA End Coal Finance Banks and Putin's war in Ukraine Banks and steel Tracking the Equator Principles Tracking the PRBs Find a Better Bank Banks and the OECD Guidelines
Media
News Publications
Financial Exclusions Tracker Equator-Complaints.Org Fossil Banks No Thanks StopEACOP Forests & Finance Banks & Biodiversity Drop JBS Bank of Coal Don't Buy into Occupation
BankTrack
About BankTrack 20 years of BankTrack – Our history Visit us Organisation Our team Our board Guiding principles Team up with us Jobs at BankTrack Our annual reports Funding and finances BankTrack in the media Our privacy policy Donate
Successes Contact BankTrack
Vismarkt 15
6511 VJ Nijmegen
The Netherlands
Contact@banktrack.org
Donate Mailing list Facebook Twitter
©2023 BankTrack
BankTrack is a registered charity in the Netherlands (ANBI) - RSIN 813874658
Find our privacy policy here

Stay up to date

Sign up now for all BankTrack's news


Make a comment

Your comment will be reviewed, before being posted