跳至主要内容

Asian Development Bank to stop financing coal plants

 

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will stop financing new coal power plants under a draft energy policy released Friday, a move that was cautiously welcomed by environmental groups.

The ADB, which provides loans and grants for projects in the poorest countries in the Asia Pacific region, said it would no longer fund any coal mining, oil and natural gas field exploration, drilling or extraction activities.

"Coal and other fossil fuels have played a large part in ensuring access to energy for the region's economic development, but they have not solved the energy access challenge, and their use harms the environment and accelerates climate change," the Manila-based bank said in the document.

Instead, the ADB will provide funds for natural gas projects and "hybrid electricity solutions" involving fossil fuels as backup systems based on certain criteria, according to the draft.

Between 2009 and 2019, the ADB awarded $42.5 billion to energy sector projects in Asia, where around 60 percent of electricity is generated by coal, its data shows.

The final version of the energy policy is expected to be submitted to the ADB board of directors by October.

While welcoming the ADB's policy proposal, Greenpeace said it was "long-delayed and incremental."

"Communities throughout Asia have struggled for decades to demand ADB to stop financing dirty energy," Greenpeace Southeast Asia program director Jasper Inventor said in a statement.

"While this new policy puts the brakes on coal financing, it still opens doors for fossil gas development."

Hasan Mehedi from the Coastal Livelihood and Environmental Action Network in Bangladesh said it was a "sweet victory."

As the market for coal, oil and gas rebounds this year, ADB president Masatsugu Asakawa warned that more than 80 percent of the expected growth in coal demand would be from Asia.

news.cgtn

标签：

评论

发表评论

此博客中的热门博文

Uzbekistan wraps up Kadyrinskaya Hydropower plant modernisation

                                        https://www.boland-hydroturbine.com/   Uzbekistan’s Energy Ministry has announced the completion on time of the three-year project to modernise the Kadyrinskaya Hydropower Plant, which was marked in a ceremony attended by foreign partners and representatives from the Kadyrinskaya HPP-3 plant and Uzbekhydroenergo, Uzbekistan’s state hydropower producer and developer. “The modernisation of the Kadyrinskaya HPP-3 plant is a great step forward in making effective use of Uzbekistan’s hydropower potential and forming a unified system for managing water and energy resources,” Uzbekistan’s Deputy Energy Minister  Sherzod Khodjaev  said. “Progress in Uzbekistan’s hydropower industry will increase energy efficiency and the contribution of renewable energy to the country’s energy balance,” he added. The modernisation of Kadyrinskaya HPP-3 was in...
发表评论
阅读全文

Uzbekistan’s hydropower potential to boost RES energy balance with EU help

  Uzbekistan’s hydropower potential is growing, and the Central Asian country is looking to boost energy efficiency and increase renewable energy’s share in the country’s energy mix with the help of the European Union, the chairman of Uzbekistan’s state hydropower producer and developer, Uzbekhydroenergo,  Abdugani Sanginov , told New Europe in an exclusive interview. “Hydropower is a renewable energy source and, in this regard, an increase in the share of hydropower in the energy balance of the Republic of Uzbekistan will help reduce the effects of climate change,” Sanginov said, adding that the technically feasible hydropower potential of Uzbekistan is estimated at 27.4 billion kWh per year and currently only 24% of this potential is used. Asked what role the EU can play in supporting renewable energy in Uzbekistan, the Uzbekhydroenergo Chairman said, “The European Union can play an important role in supporting RES in Uzbekistan by providing grants and soft loans for the dev...
发表评论
阅读全文

Chinese 16000MW Baihetan Hydropower Station will be operated on 1st,July

  Baihetan Hydropower Station, the world's second largest after the Three Gorges Dam, is expected to have its last reservoir completed on Monday in Southwest China.  The station, with a total installed capacity of 16 million kilowatts, is expected to generate more than 62 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity per year, which would reduce carbon dioxide emission by about 51.6 million tons, according to experts.  The Baihetan station is located downstream of the Jinsha River, in the upper section of the Yangtze River, in Ningnan county of Southwest China's Sichuan Province, and Qiaojia county in neighboring Yunnan Province.  The construction of the main body of the station is expected to be finished on Monday. Its first unit is scheduled to start operations on July 1. The station will be in full operation by the end of 2022.  The Baihetan hydropower station is the world's first to have a power unit with a capacity of 1 million kilowatts with 111 revolutions per mi...
发表评论
阅读全文