OCBC to give no new funding for coal-fired power plants

• 5 years ago (2019-04-17)
• David Flin

Asia 847 Coal 274

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Overseas Chinese Banking Corporation (OCBC), the second largest lender in Southeast Asia, has said that the two Vietnamese coal-fired power plants will be the last such plants it finances as it increases funding for renewable projects.

Samuel Tsien, Chief Executive of OCBC, said: “We won’t do any new coal-fired power generation plants in any countries, except for the power projects that we are already in, or that we have committed to. We hope that by doing this, we are encouraging the governments to do facilitating arrangements for the countries to move from coal to renewable.”

A report from the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis said that at least 100 major lenders have put restrictions in the past five years on mines that produce coal and power plants that burn it. These decisions reflect the rising recognition of coal’s role in climate change, and the potential for the fuel and facilities that rely on it to become obsolete before investments in them are paid off.

Tsien said that OCBC cannot backtrack from its earlier commitment to two projects in Vietnam. It was among the lenders for the 1.2 GW Nghi Son 2 power station, and it co-funds the Van Phong 1 project. Tsien also said that OCBC is increasing efforts to finance renewable energy project, which it sees as a profitable business area. OCBC is currently funding over 20 solar farms in Malaysia, as well as wind projects in Australia and Taiwan. He also said that OCBC understands that its financing policies can be “a counterweight against which we can encourage the countries to go for renewable energies.”