Asian Development Bank to end coal, upstream oil & gas financing

The Asian Development Bank will no longer finance coal mining or oil and natural gas production and exploration, it announced in a draft policy statement, a move welcomed by environmental groups, which said it was a decade overdue.

The multilateral development bank provided no timeline for its commitment. It also laid out conditions under which fossil fuel projects would continue to receive funding, such as where no other cost-effective technology was available.

YongpingZhai, Head of the ADB’s energy sector, said that the draft would be deliberated by its board of directors in October, 2021.

Pedro H. Maniego Jr., Senior Policy Adviser at the Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities, remarked, “The draft coal ban policy is a decade late, but it still helps build the economic case for the energy transition to governments and investors, and will help avoid more stranded coal assets.”

“… If the Bank will consider fossil gas as a bridge and transition fuel, it needs to stipulate an end,” he added.