Malaysian bank CIMB has unveiled a comprehensive climate policy that rules out any exposure to coal power by 2040, aligning Southeast Asia’s fifth-largest bank with the Paris Agreement on climate change. CIMB will prohibit asset-level or general corporate financing for new thermal coal mines, new coal-fired power plants and expansions, except where there are existing commitments in place. The new coal policy makes CIMB the first bank in Malaysia and Southeast Asia to commit to phasing out coal from its portfolio by 2040. The policy will come into effect in 2021, and applies across all of the company’s operating markets, which include China, United States, United Kingdom, India and Sri Lanka as well as key Southeast Asian markets Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia and Cambodia. This move is in support of the Malaysia central bank’s agenda to build climate resilience in the country’s financial sector.

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