Asia-focused British multinational bank, Standard Chartered, has pulled financing for three coal-fired power plants in Southeast Asia amid a global push to cut greenhouse gas emissions, throwing into doubt projects worth an estimated $7 billion. Banks and investors are facing pressure from environmental groups to stop funding coal power projects, which are seen as a major risk to global plans to tackle climate change. The Paris Climate Agreement requires a virtual end to coal power by 2050. Last week, fellow bank Credit Suisse said it would also stop financing new coal-fired power plants. Bernadette Maheandiran, legal analyst at Market Forces, noted that this “is an important step, but nothing short of what is needed if we want to align finance with the goals of the Paris Agreement”. Driven by rising electricity demand in places like Indonesia and Vietnam, Southeast Asia was the only region in the world where coal’s share of total energy supply increased last year and demand is expected to rise steadily for decades.

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Reuters