Mitsubishi joins Philippine coal plant phaseout project

Spanish Market: Electricity, Emissions
09/05/25

Japanese trading house Mitsubishi has agreed to join a project to phase out a coal-fired power plant in the Philippines, aiming to generate carbon credits through the Transition Credits mechanism along with Japan's Joint Crediting Mechanism (JCM).

Mitsubishi and and its Hong Kong-based subsidiary Diamond Generating Asia (DGA) has agreed to join Philippine energy firm Acen, GenZero — a subsidy of Singapore state-owned investment firm Temasek — and Singapore conglomerate Keppel to phase out the 246MW South Luzon coal-fired plant in Batangas, the Philippines, and replace it with a clean power facility. The initial deal for this project was signed by Acen, GenZero and Keppel in August 2024.

Acen is now seeking to decommission the coal-fired plant by 2030, instead of the previous target of 2040. It is still unclear what types of clean power sources will then be deployed. But renewables such as solar or onshore wind, alongside storage batteries, could be possible, a Mitsubishi spokesperson told Argus.

The partners aim to leverage Transition Credits (TCs) for the early retirement of the plant. TCs are high-integrity carbon credits generated from the emissions reduced through retiring a coal-fired plant early and replacing this with clean energy. The South Luzon project is expected to be one of the first converted coal-fired plants in the world to generate TCs.

The project is expected to generate carbon credits equivalent to 19mn t of CO2 emissions reduction over 10 years, the Mitsubishi spokesperson told Argus. Mitsubishi plans to include this project in the JCM mechanism, as the Philippines has been Japan's JCM partner country since January 2017. The company is already marketing the carbon credits in Japan, assuming the credits will be verified under the JCM, while also hoping to sell them in Singapore and the Philippines.

Verified carbon reductions or removals under the JCM can be quantified on an international basis. Some of the JCM credits issued from such mitigation efforts will be used to achieve Japan's nationally determined contributions (NDCs), while ensuring double counting is avoided on the basis of corresponding adjustments between countries and consistency with the guidance on co-operative approaches referred to in Article 6.2 of the 2015 Paris climate agreement.

JCM credits could be also traded under the Japan's green transformation emission trading system (GX-ETS), which will be officially launched in autumn of 2027. The GX-ETS adopts the cap-and-trade programme, with the government allocating free allowances for each eligible entity every year.

Japan is still highly dependent on coal-fired generation, although Tokyo has pledged to phase out inefficient coal-fed plants by 2030. Coal-fired output accounted for 32pc of the country's total power generation in 2024, according to data from the trade and industry ministry. When asked by Argus where there is the potential for the introduction of the Transition Credits mechanism in Japan, the spokesperson said Mitsubishi has not ruled out the possibility, but added there have been no discussions on this for now.

By Motoko Hasegawa

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18/06/25

TC Energy targets brownfield expansion growth

Washington, 18 June (Argus) — Canada-based TC Energy intends to focus on expansions of its existing natural gas pipeline network in North America to serve growing demand for natural gas service until the mid-2030s, chief executive Francois Poirier said today. TC Energy has a $32bn backlog in capital projects and is looking at an additional $30bn of projects that may not all come to fruition, Poirier said. The company's focus is on increasing capacity through existing pipelines and pipeline corridors, he said, rather than pursuing greenfield projects that require entirely new routes. "Our view is that we're going to be able to prosecute all of that with brownfield expansions," Poirier said in an interview on the sidelines of the Atlantic Council's Global Energy Forum. "The industry has been quite innovative in finding the nooks and crannies to move gas around. So I don't see a need for a big greenfield pipeline until the mid-2030s." Pipeline developers since 2020 have prioritized brownfield projects, after permitting delays and lawsuits delayed or halted proposed pipelines across the eastern US, such as the now-canceled $8bn Atlantic Coast Pipeline. President Donald Trump has pushed to restart new pipeline development, and last month US midstream operator Williams said it was restarting work on the 124-mile (200km) Constitution pipeline and the Northeast Supply Enhancement project. Last month, TC Energy announced a $900mn expansion of its ANR pipeline system in the US Midwest, known as the Northwoods project. TC Energy will focus on those types of brownfield projects until at least the mid-2030s, Poirier said, when the company forecasts gas production in the Hayettesville and Permian basins will reach maturity. At that point, he expects there will more need to transport Appalachian gas to the US Gulf coast, where demand from LNG export terminals is set to increase. "Then the question is going to be, is it economical?" Poirier said. "It's going to depend on the price for Henry Hub [gas]. Right now, the Henry Hub price doesn't support a new greenfield pipeline." Data centers are among the largest drivers of demand growth, Poirier said. In the last three months, TC Energy has seen "quite an acceleration" in demand for gas transportation service from utilities serving that demand, he said. Gas-fired plants are still the fastest way to reliably serve those data centers even though such plants take 3-5 years to build, he said, because renewable power is intermittent and nuclear plants take at least a decade to build. "If you look at the 660 or so data centers under development and construction in the US, about two-thirds are within 50 miles of our pipelines," Poirier said. By Chris Knight Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

Banks increased fossil fuel financing in 2024: Report

18/06/25

Banks increased fossil fuel financing in 2024: Report

London, 18 June (Argus) — Banks "significantly increased" their fossil fuel financing in 2024, reversing a trend of steadily declining fossil fuel financing since 2021, a report from a group of non-profit organisations found this week. The 65 biggest banks globally committed $869bn in 2024 to "companies conducting business in fossil fuels", the report — Banking on Climate Chaos — found. Those banks committed $429bn last year to companies expanding fossil fuel production and infrastructure. The report assesses lending and underwriting in 2024 from the world's top 65 banks to more than 2,700 fossil fuel companies. Figures are not directly comparable year-on-year, as the previous report, which assessed 2023, covered financing from 60 banks. The 60 biggest banks globally committed $705bn in 2023 to companies with fossil fuel business, last year's report found. Those banks committed $347bn in 2023 to companies with fossil fuel expansion plans. Of the five banks providing the most fossil fuel finance in 2024, four were US banks — JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup and Wells Fargo. The 65 banks assessed in this year's report have committed $7.9 trillion in fossil fuel financing since 2016, when the Paris climate agreement took effect, the report found. Finance is at the core of climate negotiations like UN Cop summits. Developed countries are typically called upon at such events to provide more public climate finance to developing nations, but the focus is also shifting to private finance, as overseas development finance looks set to drop . But fossil fuel financing banks are increasingly facing the risk of targeted and more complex climate-related litigation, according to a recent report by the London School of Economics' centre for economic transition expertise (Cetex). Climate litigation is not currently adequately accounted for in financial risk assessment, with case filing and decisions negatively impacting carbon financiers, it said. "While early climate cases primarily targeted governments and big-emitting ‘carbon majors', cases against other firms have proliferated quickly," Cetex said. The report also showed that, based on a review of disclosures from 20 banks supervised by the European Central Bank, many banks across Europe recognise litigation risks as material in the context of climate and environmental factors but tend to not be specific about the risks incurred. By Georgia Gratton and Caroline Varin Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

Adding credits, CO2 removals to EU ETS ‘fatal’: Study

18/06/25

Adding credits, CO2 removals to EU ETS ‘fatal’: Study

London, 18 June (Argus) — Allowing the use of international carbon credits or carbon removals for compliance under the EU emissions trading system (ETS) risks undermining the environmental integrity of the scheme and hindering the bloc's achievement of its climate targets, warned a study by research body the Oeko-Institut published today. Under the three scenarios examined in the study, which was commissioned by non-governmental organisation Carbon Market Watch, the EU ETS's supply-demand balance does not need to be artificially adjusted before 2035. But beyond this date the total number of allowances in circulation could fall below zero, meaning sectors under the scheme would either need to be fully decarbonised by this date or shut down unless flexibility is introduced to the system. Any reforms to increase ETS supply should focus on the system's market stability reserve, the study found, a mechanism which absorbs a percentage of excess supply from circulation each year but can also release permits if supply falls too low. Changes to the scheme's linear reduction factor — the amount by which its supply cap falls annually — would achieve the same thing but risk weakening the system's ambition, and is more likely to be politically challenging, the study said. Some EU member states have expressed interest in allowing the use of international carbon credits issued under Article 6 of the Paris climate agreement for ETS compliance for this purpose, and the European Commission said last week it is taking the option into consideration , although any such use would entail only "very high integrity" credits representing a "very small proportion" of the bloc's climate action. But introducing Article 6 credits to the ETS "poses significant risks to the functioning and environmental integrity of the system", the study found, pointing to the past use of Clean Development Mechanism credits to offset some ETS obligations to which it attributed the "collapse" of the carbon price. Including carbon removals in the scheme would pose a similar risk, the study found, concluding it is "crucial" they remain in a separate framework. The European Commission is expected to publish a report next year examining their potential inclusion. The commission will also assess in 2031 the feasibility of linking the existing ETS to the EU ETS 2 for road transport and buildings, scheduled for launch in 2027, which could increase the liquidity of the two schemes. But such a link "cannot ease tension in the [ETS] market with certainty, and administrative barriers to the merger are high", the study warned. By Victoria Hatherick Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

Brazil's Amazon Fund approves over R1bn in 1H

17/06/25

Brazil's Amazon Fund approves over R1bn in 1H

Sao Paulo, 17 June (Argus) — Brazil's Amazon Fund has approved about R1.19bn ($215mn) to finance projects submitted in the first half of 2025, about 25pc more than it financed in all of last year and double the financing in 2023. The fund — which issues grants to projects that prevent, monitor and combat deforestation while promoting conservation and sustainable development in the Amazon forest — invested more in the first six months of the year than it has in any year since project funding started in 2009, according to Brazil's development bank Bndes and environment ministry (MMA). The fund approved over R947mn last year and R584mn in 2023. The government reactivated the fund in 2023 — initially launched in 2008 — after four inactive years, when the administration of former president Jair Bolsonaro stopped backing new projects. The fund has released R2.7bn since 2009. The fund so far this year has directed R825mn to the Fortfisc deforestation program and R360mn to diverse projects aiming to combat and prevent deforestation. The most recent funding follows new approval standards on structuring and strategic projects. The Amazon Fund has R5.6bn under management in 133 assets, such as the Restaura Amazonia, which has been backing ecological and productive restoration projects for 16 years. Payments have also picked up in the first half this year, as it released R158mn from current approved programs to combat deforestation and boost revenue generation in traditional communities. This amount represents 75pc of last year's payments of R209mn and triple the 2023 payment of R51mn. Norway is the fund's largest donor, having pledged R3.5bn, followed by German development bank KfW with around R388mn and the US with R291mn. Other donors include the UK, Switzerland, Japan, Ireland and Denmark . Brazil is working to eliminate deforestation — both legal and illegal — by 2030, to meet its emissions reductions targets under the Paris climate agreement. Deforestation is one of Brazil's flagship issues for the UN Cop 30 summit, which it will host in northern Para state in November. By João Curi Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

Countries adopt agenda at UN climate talks after delay

17/06/25

Countries adopt agenda at UN climate talks after delay

London, 17 June (Argus) — Countries have adopted the agenda of the UN Bonn climate talks after an extra day of negotiations, following disagreements over the inclusion of items on climate finance and climate-related trade measures, which caused delays. The adopted agenda was a compromise, in which the two agenda items were not included, but will be addressed in other ways. The topic of trade measures — in effect carbon border adjustment mechanisms (CBAM) — will be discussed under other relevant agenda items. For the climate finance topic, which refers to developed countries' obligations to provide climate finance to developing nations, Bonn chairs will hold consultations and report back at the UN Cop 30 climate summit, set for November. The Bonn technical negotiations — halfway-point talks before Cop conferences each year — were scheduled to begin on 16 June, but the plenary was suspended as parties failed to agree on the agenda. The outgoing Azeri Cop 29 presidency oversaw further negotiations on the agenda. In the talks' opening plenary, which re-started today, India's representative said that the country was "extremely disappointed" with developed countries' "reluctance" to discuss "legal obligations" for climate finance. India will return to the topic at Cop 30, the country's representative said — echoed by Tanzania. The EU's representative welcomed the agenda's adoption. "It is hard to remain silent when our positions and our motivations are mischaracterised by our partners. This is a multilateral process in which the views of all parties must be respected… we work here together to reach compromises to allow us to move forward", he added. Finance remains a central issue in climate negotiations. At Cop 29 last year, almost 200 countries agreed on a new goal to provide $300bn/yr in climate finance to developing nations by 2035. The Cop 29 finance outcome was significantly lower than the trillions of dollars sought by developing countries, which expressed frustration at the time. But the text also called on "all actors… to enable the scaling up of financing to developing country parties for climate action from all public and private sources to at least $1.3 trillion/yr by 2035". Consultations on a roadmap to achieve that level will take place in Bonn. The EU's CBAM was a point of contention during the Cop 28 and 29 talks, with countries such as China and Brazil raising concerns about its impact on developing countries. The European Commission expects the CBAM, when fully phased in, to capture more than half of the emissions covered by the bloc's ETS. The scheme's full implementation starts on 1 January 2026, but its impact is already starting to be felt . By Georgia Gratton Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

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