<article><p class="lead">The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is planning to end financing of coal-fired power projects and oil, gas and coal mining, making it the latest financial institution to pull back from the fossil fuel sector.</p><p>The pledge is part of a new draft energy policy that focuses on supporting the low-carbon transition in Asia. The government-backed bank said it will continue to finance natural gas projects, including pipelines, LNG terminals, storage projects and gas-fired power plants, but only if no other technologies can provide the same energy service at an equivalent cost, including the social cost of carbon.</p><p>Japan and the US are the largest shareholders in the Philippines-based ADB, which lends to social and economic projects in the region. It said it will help its 68 member countries finance emissions-control technologies at existing power plants but will not invest in modernising or upgrading such plants unless they are re-engineered to use cleaner fuels, such as gas or renewables. </p><p>The bank will support its members to reduce their dependence on coal and eventually phase out coal-fired generation completely — something it acknowledged would be a tough task, given coal generated almost 60pc of electricity in Asia in 2018.</p><p>The ADB financed around $42.5bn of energy projects of all types from 2009-19, largely in the power sector, with Pakistan, India, China and Indonesia among the top recipients. The new draft policy will be considered by its board in September-October this year.</p><p>Private-sector banks in Asia have also been cutting their exposure to thermal fuels, especially coal. Singapore's largest bank DBS last month <a href="https://direct.argusmedia.com/newsandanalysis/article/2206527">pledged to phase out</a> its thermal coal exposure by 2039. Japan's Sumitomo Mitsui Banking and Mizuho Bank withdrew from domestic and overseas coal-fired power development projects as of May and June 2019, respectively, while Malaysia's CIMB became the first southeast Asian bank to commit to a coal-exit strategy with a deadline in December.</p><p class="bylines">By Kevin Foster</p></article>
