Finance firms plan to close coal plants in Asia
Some of the world’s biggest financial institutions are working on a plan to speed the closure of coal-fired power plants in Asia, the BBC has been told.
The initiative was developed by UK insurer Prudential, is being driven by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), and includes major banks HSBC and Citi.
The ADB hopes the plan will be ready for the COP26 climate conference, which is being held in Scotland in November.
The plan aims to tackle the biggest human-made source of carbon emissions.
Don Kanak, the chairman of Prudential Insurance Growth Markets, who developed the initiative, told the BBC: “The world cannot possibly hit the Paris climate targets unless we accelerate the retirement and replacement of existing coal fired electricity, opening up much larger room in the near term for renewables and storage.”
