中文
Recently, oil price.com pointed out that with the implementation of clean energy policies by governments and the acceleration of energy transformation, the attraction of Asian coal power industry to investment is rapidly decreasing.
According to the financial times, Vietnam, Indonesia, the Philippines and Bangladesh canceled coal-fired power projects with a total installed capacity of 45 gigawatts in 2020; only 25 gigawatts of planned new coal-fired power projects are expected by 2021.
Among them, India’s planned installed capacity of coal-fired power projects has been reduced to 30 gigawatts; Bangladesh is planning to introduce a policy to stop new coal-fired power plants; the Philippines announced in October last year to suspend approval of new coal-fired power projects.
According to the oil price network, Vietnam has cancelled the construction plan of seven coal-fired power plants, and postponed the planning of another six coal-fired power plants to 2030; Pakistan has also announced that it will not build new “coal-based power facilities”.
In recent years, with the increasingly severe climate change problem and the continuous reduction of renewable energy costs, fossil fuels are no longer popular with capital, and many financial institutions have accelerated the withdrawal of investment in coal and coal power. Take Lianchang International Bank of Malaysia as an example. In December 2020, the bank announced that it would gradually withdraw its investment in coal related fields. In addition to the existing agreements, it will no longer provide assets or general enterprise financing for the construction and expansion projects of coal mines or coal-fired power plants in the future.
In addition to the reduction of financing from major investment institutions, many energy companies are also moving away from coal and transforming into “cleaner” businesses. For example, Glencore, the commodity giant, has already said that it will “reduce coal business in a planned way” and announced that it will reduce emissions by 40% by 2035 and achieve zero net emissions by 2050.
In addition, according to the statistics of oil price network, nearly half of the $52 billion coal power investment in Vietnam, Indonesia, Philippines and Bangladesh since 2015 has come from Japan, South Korea and Singapore. However, with the increasing pressure on environmental protection, the public and private institutions in the three countries are gradually reducing their investment and financing for carbon intensive power and mining projects. Among them, at least 16 banks in Japan have issued policies to restrict coal financing; three of the largest banks in Singapore have announced that they will stop supporting new coal-fired power projects; South Korea has also proposed to prohibit all South Korean public financing institutions and companies from investing in overseas coal-fired power projects.