On April 6, 2019 Nikkei Asian Review reported on Japanese investment in coal-fired power in South East Asia, with a byline noting that “Japanese builders of carbon-spewing plants face backlash from ESG-minded investors.”
According to the article, “Southeast Asian countries are turning to low-cost coal to satisfy their surging electricity demand as the West shies away from the fossil fuel under pressure from green-minded investors.
Indonesia is on track for the third-largest coal-fired power capacity of new plants under development, behind China and India. Vietnam follows in fourth place, while the Philippines and Thailand will be home to multiple new coal power stations.
Japan, the No. 2 exporter of coal technology, is now the target of ESG investors. A big coal-fired plant under construction in Indonesia is partly funded by trading house Smitomo and Kansai Electric Power and borrows from the Japan Bank for International Cooperation. In Vietnam, trading company Marubeni is planning a coal-fired power station with South Korea’s Korea Electric Power.
Japanese businesses were also singled out in recent criticism. ‘Japan has the largest coal plant pipeline of any developed country, and many Japanese companies are also champions of coal plant development overseas,’ a representative of a nongovernmental organization said along with its peers at the COP24 climate change conference in Poland last December.”
You may read the article on the Nikkei Asian Review internet site.