ADB asked: After coal, why shift support to fossil gas?

Even as they welcomed a recent plan of Asian Development Bank (ADB) to stop funding coal projects in the region, environmental groups and campaigners are worried about the financial institution’s continued support for fossil gas in its draft energy policy.

“It is concerning that as the door is closed on coal, the door seems to have opened indefinitely for fossil gas,” said Pedro Maniego Jr., senior policy advisor of the Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities. This, he said, would only delay the necessary transition away from fossil fuels amid the climate crisis.

ADB released a 37-page draft last week, stating that it would no longer finance “any coal mining, oil and natural gas field exploration, drilling or extraction activities.”

It will also stop funding any new coal-fired capacity for power and heat generation.

Natural gas

Under certain conditions, however, the bank said it might finance natural gas projects and will define “sound screening criteria” for other projects that generate fossil fuels, notably natural gas.

“If the bank will consider fossil gas as a bridge and transition fuel, it needs to stipulate an end,” Maniego said, “There is no bridge in the world without an end,” he added.

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

Bank data showed that between 2009 and 2019, the funding agency channeled $42.5 billion into energy projects in Asia, with around 60 percent of electricity derived from coal.

Fossil Free ADB, an international coalition of nongovernment groups, reported in April that the bank had spent over $4.7 billion on gas projects since the adoption of the Paris Agreement in 2015 as an international response to global warming.

‘Long overdue’

Indonesia, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Uzbekistan and Thailand were among the top countries receiving ADB financing for gas projects from 2016 to 2020. Jasper Inventor, Greenpeace Southeast Asia program director, cited ADB’s move to veer away from funding coal projects as “long overdue.” He said “it falls short and completely misses the mark in responding to this decade’s realities: a global pandemic and the narrowing window for climate action.”

“ADB must not provide a loophole and opportunities for businesses to impede the transition to renewable energy by replacing coal with fossil gas,” Inventor said. INQ