Financing the Managed Phaseout of Coal-fired Power Plants in Asia-Pacific

The early retirement of high-emitting assets will be a key enabler of decarbonisation on the road to net zero. The phaseout of coal power is a systemwide challenge – requiring careful planning and coordination to reduce coal dependencies and accelerate investment in renewable energy and related infrastructure while limiting impacts on affected workers and communities.

The Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ) Asia-Pacific (APAC) is developing a report titled "Financing the Managed Phaseout of Coal-fired Power Plants in Asia-Pacific". Chaired by DBS Bank CEO Piyush Gupta and HSBC Asia Co-CEO Surendra Rosha, the working group consists of over 10 financial institutions and over 20 supporting partners, including NGOs, multilateral development banks and regulators.

The report by GFANZ aims to bring together and build on emerging frameworks and recent experiences of the managed phaseout of coal-fired power plants. It also aims to provide practical guidance for net zero-committed financial institutions that are considering whether to support the financing of coal phaseout transactions in the near term. The near-term objective is to establish an ambitious but practical foundation to support catalytic and pioneering coal phaseout transactions involving both public and private finance. 

A Consultation Report was launched in Jun, which initiates a public consultation to support the publication of a Final Report ahead of COP28.

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Recommendations and Guidance on Financial Institution Net Zero Transition Plans

Governments and private sector firms around the world have committed to achieving net zero with the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5°C.

As financial institutions make commitments to align their businesses and portfolios to net zero, many have begun to develop plans that demonstrate how they will achieve their climate goals. These transition plans translate an institution’s net zero commitment into specific objectives and actions that are aimed at reducing real economy greenhouse gas emissions and providing credibility and accountability to net zero commitments.

The Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ) publications are designed to provide voluntary recommendations and guidance to financial institutions to support their efforts in developing and implementing net zero transition plans as well as inform the public sector on policies of transition planning. We have sought to develop recommendations and guidance with global, cross-sectoral applicability to reduce the frictions that could otherwise impede the financial sector from playing its full part in delivering on our collective climate goals.

GFANZ also aims to accelerate adoption of current best practices and promote consistency in the development and use of transition plans by creating presentation materials that inform and educate on the GFANZ Net Zero Transition framework such as our Workshops in a Box and Asia-Pacific case studies.

Find out more here.