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Home › Our Projects ›
Campaign

End Coal Finance

By: Will O'Sullivan – BankTrack
Contact:

Will O'Sullivan, Coal finance campaigner 

End Coal Finance. Photo: BankTrack
By: Will O'Sullivan – BankTrack
Contact:

Will O'Sullivan, Coal finance campaigner 

Why this project?

Coal must end.

The ever-growing risk to life on the Earth posed by climate change has in large part been due to the burning of coal. And, at this crucial moment for climate action, the global economy’s use of coal continues to be a deciding factor in our chances of mitigating the worst effects of climate change. Every IPCC emissions reduction scenario (p.299) that avoids the most dire and irreversible effects of climate change involves a rapid phase-out of coal. The UN Secretary General called in 2020 for the immediate cessation of all new coal-fired power plants. The decade to 2030 needs to see steep reductions (45%, compared to 2020 levels) in fossil fuels to preserve the 1.5°C target of the Paris Agreement. The relative burden of that reduction falls particularly heavily on coal, compared to oil and gas, due to its very high emissions. Yet, despite the urgency of phasing out coal, it remains the largest energy-related source of CO2 emissions in the world, with emissions from coal growing in 2022 to reach an all-time high of 15.5 gigatonnes.

Investment in global coal supply continues to grow and is expected to increase by another 10% in 2022.   While most of the world’s largest banks now exclude finance for new coal, and a growing number have measures in place to phase out coal finance, coal’s continued expansion is still being made possible by some commercial banks and their backers in development finance institutions. In 2022, research showed that commercial banks had channelled more than $1.5 trillion into the coal supply chain between January 2019 and November 2021.  

Our approach

We are campaigning together with our international partners IDI, Recourse, and regional partners including Trend Asia, PMCJ, WALHI, and the NGO Forum on ADB, for an end to the remaining finance for coal projects.  Our approach is guided by two key elements: the global concentration of coal expansion in Asia, and the role of development finance institutions (DFIs) banks as important indirect financiers of coal, often through commercial bank intermediaries.

On the first point, collectively, a total of 27 countries in Asia account for about 76% of current global coal generation capacity. Tackling the remaining fossil fuel expansion in Asia is urgent: it has seen the largest growth in greenhouse gas emissions in the world over the last two decades, with three Asian countries in the top ten of global emissions. Asian commercial banks play a huge role in propping up the region’s coal industry, and still have a substantial appetite for financing coal. According to the Global Coal Exit List, 47 Indian banks have provided $110 billion in coal finance between October 2018 and October 2020; 10 Philippine banks over $2bn and 11 Indonesian banks nearly $10bn.

On the second point, 2023 will be a crucial year to get financial institutions, both public and private, onto a genuinely low carbon pathway, leaving no room for new coal finance and urging a shift to financing clean technologies. The World Bank Group has committed to align all of its new operations to the Paris climate goals by 1st July 2023, and its private sector arm – the International Finance Corporation (IFC) – amended its Green Equity Approach in April 2023 to prevent its equity clients (e.g. commercial banks)from investing in new coal projects. Similarly, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and the Asian Development Bank have announced that they will align their operations with the goals of the Paris Agreement with similar deadlines to the World Bank. Meanwhile, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development will start requiring all its indirect finance transactions to be Paris-aligned starting January 1, 2023.

Yet, while almost every major DFI has committed to end coal finance, several loopholes still exist that allow coal investments to continue, for example through commercial banks acting as financial intermediaries. These loopholes matter, especially in southeast Asia, where DFI financing for coal via intermediaries is alive and well in Indonesia, the Philippines, India and Vietnam. To take one example, Postal Savings Bank of China, in which the IFC holds a $300 million equity stake, underwrote $10.3 billion in shares and bonds of coal companies and provided $166 million in corporate loans for the coal industry from 2019 to 2021 alone. Hana Bank in Indonesia and Rizal Commercial Bank (RCBC) in the Philippines are two more stark examples of banks that are IFC-funded and coal-funding.

What BankTrack does

BankTrack will: 

  • expose the key commercial bank financiers of the coal industry in Asia and their links with public sector development  banks, together with partners .

  • identify and evaluate banks' policies as they relate to coal, using the criteria of Reclaim Finance's Coal Policy Tool (see below) to set a benchmark and inform the campaign's demands.

  • profile Dodgy Deals, to highlight the human and environmental cost of these coal projects and companies, in partnership with Asian allies and build their capabilities to stop them and to work with climate and finance coalitions to amplify our impact.

  • link case examples to the need for systemic change in our engagements with banks as well as in our communications, stressing the need for a shift from coal to clean energy, and not to other fossil fuels.

These tactics bring pressure to bear on key decision-makers at public and private sector banks, their shareholders and regulators, to change their policies and practices.

What banks must do

Banks must phase out finance for coal across all their financing activities, including corporate financing in the form of loans and underwriting, which now accounts for the majority of bank financing to the coal industry. In order to achieve this, banks must:

  1. Immediately end all financing for coal expansion projects and for all coal companies with expansion plans (almost half of all coal companies), along the whole thermal coal value chain;

  2. Phase out all ongoing financing for coal projects and companies, on a timeline aligned with limiting global warming to 1.5°C, starting with an immediate end to finance for coal mining and coal power, as well as projects and companies active in tar sands oil, Arctic oil and gas, offshore oil and gas, fracked oil and gas, and LNG;

  3. Require all their existing clients to publish phase-out plans for their coal activities on a 1.5°C-aligned timeline;

  4. Commit to zero out the climate impact of their entire finance portfolio before 2050, and to halve this impact by 2030 at the latest, without relying on discredited offset schemes

  5. Publicly and comprehensively report on all the previous steps.

Policy analysis

Coal Policy Tool

Reclaim Finance tracks the oil and gas policies of financial institutions, including banks, in the Coal Policy Tool. The below shows the assessments for commercial banks. The table can be filtered by country and for NZBA membership (see here). For more information about the tool and methodology, visit Reclaim Finance's webpage on the tool.

Feedback welcome

Our policy assessments are always a work in progress and we very much welcome any feedback, especially from banks included in them. You can of course also contact us for more information on specific scores and the latest policy changes. Please get in touch at climate@banktrack.org.

Dodgy Deals
All
Projects
Companies

Adani Godda thermal power project

India
Project
Active
Coal Electric Power Generation

Adani Godda thermal power project

India | project

Adani Group

India
Company
Active
Coal Mining | ...

Adani Group

India | company

Adaro Energy

Indonesia
Company
Active
Coal Mining | ...

Adaro Energy

Indonesia | company

Adaro aluminium smelter coal power station, Kalimantan

Indonesia
Project
Active
Coal Electric Power Generation | ...

Adaro aluminium smelter coal power station, Kalimantan

Indonesia | project

Cirebon 2 coal power plant

Indonesia
Project
Active
Coal Electric Power Generation

Cirebon 2 coal power plant

Indonesia | project

Java 9 & 10

Indonesia
Project
Active
Coal Electric Power Generation | ...

Java 9 & 10

Indonesia | project

Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO)

South Korea
Company
Active
Coal Electric Power Generation | Coal Mining | Nuclear Electric Power Generation

Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO)

South Korea | company

Payra Port Coal Terminal

Bangladesh
Project
Active
Coal Electric Power Generation | ...

Payra Port Coal Terminal

Bangladesh | project

Tanjung Jati-B 2 (TJB2) coal power plant

Indonesia
Project
Active
Coal Electric Power Generation

Tanjung Jati-B 2 (TJB2) coal power plant

Indonesia | project

Vung Ang II coal power plant

Vietnam
Project
Active
Coal Electric Power Generation

Vung Ang II coal power plant

Vietnam | project

Batang Coal Power Project

Indonesia
Project
On record
Coal Electric Power Generation

Batang Coal Power Project

Indonesia | project | on record

Rampal coal power plant

Bangladesh
Project
On record
Coal Electric Power Generation

Rampal coal power plant

Bangladesh | project | on record
Resources
Documents
Images
Links
2021-11-19 00:00:00

Compliance Investigation Report

IFC Investments in RCBC, The Philippines
Bank document
2021-11-19 00:00:00 | Compliance Advisor Ombudsman
2023-04-18 00:00:00

2023 Fossil Fuel Divestment Scorecard

Partner publication
2023-04-18 00:00:00 | Withdraw from Coal (CEED)
2016-02-02 00:00:00

Coal: a Public Health Crisis

Diseases and deaths attributed to coal use in the Philippines
NGO document
2016-02-02 00:00:00 | Greenpeace
2020-05-31 00:00:00

The Decade in Review

Expanding Coal, Lagging Renewables & Rising Fossil Gas
Partner publication
2020-05-31 00:00:00 | CEED
2020-02-01 00:00:00

Toxic Air: The Price of Fossil Fuels

NGO document
2020-02-01 00:00:00 | Greenpeace
2022-02-10 00:00:00

IFC Management Action Plan in response to the CAO findings

Bank policy
2022-02-10 00:00:00 | The International Finance Corporation
2017-10-11 00:00:00

Initial complaint by the PMCJ to the IFC's ombudsman

NGO document
2017-10-11 00:00:00 | Philippines Movement for Climate Justice (PMCJ)
2023-04-06 00:00:00

Boom and Bust Coal 2023

Tracking the Global Coal Plant Pipeline
Partner publication
2023-04-06 00:00:00 | Global Energy Monitor
2022-10-31 00:00:00

Paris Alignment Principles

What International Finance Institutions need to do to align financial intermediary investments with Paris and tackle climate change
Partner publication
2022-10-31 00:00:00 | Trend Asia, Recourse, BankTrack, OilChangeInternational
2022-10-31 00:00:00

Opacity and Accountability

The Hidden Financial Pipelines Supporting New Coal
Partner publication
2022-10-31 00:00:00 | Global Energy Monitor
2021-10-31 00:00:00

Progress report and recommendations for financial institutions to adopt coal exit policies aligned with the 1.5°C objective

Partner publication
2021-10-31 00:00:00 | Reclaim Finance
2022-06-30 00:00:00

Exposed: The Coal Insurers of Last Resort

Partner publication
2022-06-30 00:00:00 | Insure Our Future, Solutions for Our Climate
2020-10-31 00:00:00

Coming clean

Can the IFC help end coal finance?
Partner publication
2020-10-31 00:00:00 | Recourse
2022-11-30 00:00:00

The Coal Trail

Tracking Investments in Coal Fired Thermal Power Plants in India
Partner publication
2022-11-30 00:00:00 | The Centre for Financial Accountability (CFA) - India
2021-10-31 00:00:00

How to Exit Coal

10 Criteria for Evaluating Corporate Coal Phase-Out Plans: a briefing for financial institutions
Partner publication
2021-10-31 00:00:00 | Urgewald
2022-11-30 00:00:00

Coal in Net Zero Transitions

Strategies for rapid, secure and people-centred change
Other document
2022-11-30 00:00:00 | IEA

Coal mines and plants across southeast Asia

2023-05-17
Banten Suralaya Power Plant, Java, Indonesia, which has been financed by World Bank clients The Mariveles Coal Power Plant, site of the proposed RCBC-funded Dinginin expansion Adaro's South Kalimantan coal mine Tailings pond at Adaro's South Kalimantan coal mine

Gem profile on coal in the Philippines

GEM Profile: Adaro Aluminium Smelter power station

Inclusive Development International

Our partner in this project

Re-course

Our partner organisation in this project

News
BankTrack
Partners
Blog
External
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Activists call on Japanese megabanks to pull out of Cirebon coal plant

Frontline residents and NGOs visited Japan from Indonesia, petitioning banks to abandon finance for one Cirebon unit and to retire the other
2023-05-31 | Friends of the Earth Japan
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

IFC must stop funding fossil fuels via financial intermediaries, new report says

2023-04-12 | Recourse
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

IFC announces it will stop clients funding new coal projects

2023-04-04 | Recourse
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

EXCLUSIVE: Adani Group’s China connection allegedly implicated in the coal-procurement scam

A criminal investigation against Adani Enterprises Limited and others registered in India’s capital New Delhi by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has been pending for three years.
2023-03-27 | Adani Watch
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Deutsche Bank tightens finance policy on coal, but not on oil and gas

2023-03-02 | Reuters
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Global banks decline to finance Adaro’s smelter project

2023-02-15 | Indonesia Business Post
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Indonesia’s Adaro struggles to secure funding for $2bn aluminium project

Climate campaigners condemn plans for 2.2GW coal power plant to fuel new smelter
2023-02-07 | FT
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

The forgotten people in Adani's agenda of coal exploitation in India - a list of community conflicts

2023-02-02 | Adani Watch
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Carmichael coal is not reducing poverty in South Asia

2022-12-14 | IEEFA
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Philippine leading lender BDO Unibank imposes stricter conditions for coal-related financing

2022-09-12 | Eco-Business
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Who is still financing the global coal industry?

New research reveals banks and investors behind the world’s worst climate offenders
2022-02-15 | Berlin | Urgewald
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Indonesia's Adaro plans $728 mln aluminium smelter in Borneo

2021-12-23 | Reuters
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Bowing to public pressure, Rizal becomes first bank in Philippines to exit coal

2021-12-14 | IDI
Banks

Banco de Oro (BDO) Unibank

Philippines
Active

Bank Mandiri

Indonesia
Active

Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI)

Indonesia
Active

Bank of India

India
Active

Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI)

Indonesia
Active

Hana Financial Group

South Korea
Active

Postal Savings Bank of China

China
Active

Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC)

Philippines
Active

State Bank of India

India
Active
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