Residents and green NGOs have accused the World Bank of indirectly financing two new coal-fired power plants on Indonesia's most populous island despite promises to shift to low-carbon funding, according to a complaint filed Thursday. Hana Bank has previously pledged to stop financing new coal-fired power plants by 2030.
Bank of indirectly financing two new coal-fired power plants on Indonesia's most populous island despite promises to shift to low-carbon funding, according to a complaint filed Thursday.
The complaint from local communities, supported by several NGOs, comes as calls grow for global financial institutions to dramatically redesign their activities to meet the challenges of climate change.is expanding the Suralaya coal-fired plant -- one of the biggest in Southeast Asia -- in Banten province, which neighbours the capital Jakarta. The upgrade will add two generating units to the eight in operation.
The complaint says the World Bank's private lending arm International Finance Corporation provided a 2019 equity investment of $15.36 million to South Korean bank Hana's Indonesia subsidiary, a financer of the project.That investment is confirmed in a rights issue disclosure on the IFC website, which also said it owned 9.9 percent of the bank at the time.
"The new... plants are expected to cause thousands of premature deaths and contribute to more than 250 million metric tons of CO2 to the earth's atmosphere," NGO Inclusive Development International , which filed the complaint, said in a statement.
It is not claimed that investment was directly used to fund Suralaya. Hana gave $56 million in project finance to the new expansion, according to IDI.
South Africa Latest News, South Africa Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
World Bank, IMF set to return to Africa after 50 years despite Morocco’s quakeEarthquake-ravaged Morocco is set to host next month the first annual meetings of the Bretton Woods institutions on the continent since 1973.
Read more »
Varo Bank Expands Cloud Partnership with Temenos - IT News Africa | Business Technology, Telecoms and Startup NewsVaro Bank, the first nationally chartered consumer tech bank in the US, has extended its relationship with Temenos.
Read more »
'Hostile' minister to blame as most of Post Bank board quits, says chairFive of the eight directors of the Postbank board have resigned, including the chairperson.
Read more »
Kenya's central bank limits sale of dollars by remittance firmsKenya's central bank has capped the amount of dollars that money transfer companies can sell to an individual customer at $100,000 per day, a central bank letter to the firms shows.
Read more »