CaixaBank explicitly excludes finance for new captive coal
The success
In the latest update of its ESG policy, CaixaBank explicitly excluded finance for captive coal projects. This makes CaixaBank one of the few major commercial banks globally to have such an explicit exclusion in their investment policies, and it represents a significant step forward in the fight against coal finance.
BankTrack's role
In Autumn 2025, we approached CaixaBank and several other major European commercial banks to inquire about the applicability of their existing coal finance exclusions to captive coal projects and developers. CaixaBank communicated that it already considered captive coal as falling under its coal finance exclusions, but we called on the bank to make such an exclusion explicit. The bank delivered on this with its most recent ESG policy update.
At the end of May 2026, CaixaBank updated its ESG policy, explicitly excluding finance for projects “for the construction, development or expansion of coal-fired power plants, including captive or self-generation plants for industrial use.” This is a significant step forward, making CaixaBank one of the very few European and global banks adopting a specific finance exclusion for captive coal power plants.
Captive coal power plants are off-grid coal power plants developed to provide power to a specific industrial complex. These plants are usually associated with energy-intensive industries like steelmaking, cement manufacturing and metal processing. While renewable power generation overtook coal as the world’s largest source of electricity in 2025, captive coal is still driving coal power expansion in Southeast Asia, including specifically in Indonesia. The country is particularly rich in aluminium and nickel, essential metals for the energy transition. The processing of these metals is, however, often powered by captive coal power plants, and a quarter of the total coal power capacity added in Indonesia in 2025 was captive. It is estimated that more than three-quarters of coal capacity currently under development in Indonesia is linked to industrial operations, rather than on-grid power supply.
The financing for these projects is often hidden within a bank’s financing for these heavy industries, even in those flagged as essential for the energy transition. This is why a specific exclusion for these projects is important, as it is a step forward in the decarbonisation of these industries and towards the end of coal finance.