17 July 2020
Reacting to the news that a club of banks, led by DBS and including Korea Export Import Bank, Korea Development Bank and Hana Bank, CIMB, Maybank of Malaysia, Bank of China, Bank Mandiri, Bank Negara Indonesia and Exim Bank of Indonesia have signed a 15 year loan agreement to finance the proposed 2,000 Megawatt Jawa 9 and 10 power station in Banten Province, Indonesia, Market Forces campaigner Binbin Mariana said:
On Korea: Korean financial institutions and the Korean coal industry are attempting to lock Indonesia into polluting coal power past 2040, far beyond what can be sustained if we want to contain global warming. In other words, President Moon’s Green New Deal is translating into these companies saying “to hell with the climate”.
Binbin Mariana, Market Forces
Nothing about this project makes common sense. A recent report by the Korea Development Institute showed it will lose project sponsors’ money, it will add to the horrible degradation of air quality and sustainable livelihoods in local communities, and will invite catastrophic climate change.
This project seems to merely exist to prop up Doosan Heavy, a company whose addiction to coal power has driven it into the brink of collapse. This is the price local communities and all who depend on a livable climate have to pay for Doosan’s incompetence. But this project and any others Doosan can find to participate in will not change the fact that Doosan is pursuing a dying industry, a proposition that can only end in failure.
On DBS: DBS’ hypocrisy is also on display as the arranging bank. In its 2019 coal policy, DBS claimed to recognise the need to urgently tackle climate change and said that it would no longer finance new coal power stations. But in signing this 15 year loan agreement to fund Jawa 9 and 10, it has just burdened itself, our climate and Indonesian communities with a massive new 2000MW coal project. This finance flies in the face of expert advice that we can’t afford to build any more CO2 emitting infrastructure if we want to have any hope of meeting the global goals of the Paris agreement.
Binbin Mariana, Market Forces