{"id":71994,"date":"2021-06-08T17:44:04","date_gmt":"2021-06-08T17:44:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chinadialogue.net\/?p=71994"},"modified":"2021-06-08T17:44:17","modified_gmt":"2021-06-08T17:44:17","slug":"asian-development-bank-no-longer-to-support-coal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/energy\/asian-development-bank-no-longer-to-support-coal\/","title":{"rendered":"Asian Development Bank no longer to support coal"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

On 7 May, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) issued a revamped energy policy<\/a> for consultation \u2013 the policy\u2019s first overhaul since 2009<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A decade is a long time in the energy world. Between 2010 and 2019<\/a>, large-scale solar power generation costs dropped 80% (to US$0.068\/kWh) and onshore wind dropped 60% (to $0.053\/kWh). Both now undercut the levelised (lifetime) costs of new coal and gas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 2015 Paris Agreement has led many of ADB\u2019s member countries<\/a> to adopt carbon targets \u2013 and some, like China, net-zero targets. The International Energy Agency (IEA), usually bullish about the prospects for fossil fuels, now agrees a net-zero<\/a> world should cease investing in new unabated fossil fuel. The IEA model\u2019s new Net-zero by 2050 scenario calculates an annual global investment need of $3.5 trillion \u2013 much of it in the fast-growing Asian economies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The IEA\u2019s stated-policies scenario<\/a> projects that between 2019 and 2030 primary energy demand in China, India and Southeast Asia will grow by 620 million tonnes of oil equivalent (Mtoe), from its current 3,300 Mtoe. This rate of growth is twice that of other developing regions, Africa, the Middle East and South and Central America, combined.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>
Recommended<\/span><\/span><\/div><\/a>\n\n\n\n

The ADB has contributed to Asia\u2019s increased use of fossil fuels. Though it has not financed new coal since 2013, its old policy does not formally preclude it. Meanwhile, the bank has lent $4.7 billion for gas since 2015, according to Oil Change International<\/a>. It has also leveraged private finance for gas. As recently as 2019, it lent<\/a> $185 million and leveraged $120 million from the Japanese overseas assistance LEAP scheme for Jawa-1, a 1,760 MW gas power plant in Indonesia. In the same year, ADB made a $50 million contribution<\/a> to Rojana Rayong 2, a $1.1 billion, 2,500 MW gas power plant in Thailand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new draft energy policy identifies four goals for the energy transformation. These can be summarised as follows:<\/p>\n\n\n\n