By CLARA DENINA AND MELANIE BURTON, Reuters
Published August 3, 2021 10:50am LONDON/MELBOURNE - Financial firms including British insurer Prudential, lenders Citi and HSBC and BlackRock Real Assets are devising plans to speed the closure of Asia s coal-fired power plants in order to lower the biggest source of carbon emissions, five people with knowledge of the initiative said. The novel proposal, which includes the Asian Development Bank (ADB), offers a potentially workable model and early talks with Asian governments and multilateral banks are promising, the sources told Reuters. The group plans to create public-private partnerships to buy out the plants and wind them down within 15 years, far sooner than their usual life, giving workers time to retire or find new jobs and allowing countries to shift to renewable energy sources.
Clara DeninaMelanie Burton
6 minute read
A protester holds a bucket of coal during a demonstration demanding Japan to stop supporting coal at home and overseas, at the G20 Summit in Osaka, Japan, June 28, 2019. REUTERS/Jorge Silva
Summary
Initiative aims to secure funding at COP26 summit
ADB preparing feasibility study on early closures
LONDON/MELBOURNE, Aug 3 (Reuters) - Financial firms including British insurer Prudential, lenders Citi and HSBC and BlackRock Real Assets are devising plans to speed the closure of Asia s coal-fired power plants in order to lower the biggest source of carbon emissions, five people with knowledge of the initiative said.
Exclusive-ADB, Citi, HSBC, Prudential hatch plan for Asian coal-fired closures -sources
FILE PHOTO: A protester holds a bucket of coal during a demonstration demanding Japan to stop supporting coal at home and overseas, at the G20 Summit in Osaka, Japan, June 28, 2019. REUTERS/Jorge Silva
August 3, 2021
By Clara Denina and Melanie Burton
LONDON/MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Financial firms including British insurer Prudential, lenders Citi and HSBC and BlackRock Real Assets are devising plans to speed the closure of Asia’s coal-fired power plants in order to lower the biggest source of carbon emissions, five people with knowledge of the initiative said.
The novel proposal, which is being driven by the Asian Development Bank, offers a potentially workable model and early talks with Asian governments and multilateral banks are promising, the sources told Reuters.
BBC News
Published
image sourceGetty Images
Some of the world s biggest financial institutions are working on a plan to speed the closure of coal-fired power plants in Asia, the BBC has been told.
The initiative was developed by UK insurer Prudential, is being driven by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), and includes major banks HSBC and Citi.
The ADB hopes the plan will be ready for the COP26 climate conference, which is being held in Scotland in November.
The plan aims to tackle the biggest human-made source of carbon emissions.
Don Kanak, the chairman of Prudential Insurance Growth Markets, who developed the initiative, told the BBC: The world cannot possibly hit the Paris climate targets unless we accelerate the retirement and replacement of existing coal fired electricity, opening up much larger room in the near term for renewables and storage.
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