Read the latest insights and analysis from the experts at Oil Change International.
Despite an EU commitment to phase out fossil fuel subsidies by 2020, countries across Europe are still subsidising dirty coal boy over €10 billion a year, according to new figures released by the European Commission today.
This week, the Central Java Coal Power Project added to its list of failures, as continued refusal by villagers to sell their land for the proposed coal plant has forced the Indonesian government to yet again extend the deadline for financial closure of the project. This provides yet another reason for the World Bank to intervene.
From the Wyoming coal mines, to the gasification plant in Penwell, to the oilfields of the Permian Basin -- this subsidy spotlight explores the human impact of government subsidies gone haywire.
Today, over 30 groups from around the world, including Oil Change International, sent an open letter to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe ahead of his meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama on April 24th urging Japan to follow the United States and other countries' pledges to stop financing coal overseas.
World Bank Group finance for projects that included fossil fuel exploration was highest in FY2013, at nearly $1 billion out of $2.7 billion total for fossil fuel projects in 2013.
Two important actions were added to the growing list of recent global steps curbing public finance for coal. First, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) joined the World Bank and European Investment Bank (EIB) in adopting a new Energy Strategy that significantly restricts support for coal power projects. As the second climate feat of the week, the U.S. government voted no on the Board of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for a proposed coal power plant in Pakistan. However, even though the U.S. and several other countries voted no or abstained from supporting the Pakistan coal plant, the ADB board still had a simple majority, and therefore approved $900 million in funding for the 600 MW Jamshoro coal plant.
At a Coal Summit in Warsaw today, the coal industry was told it had to leave most of the existing coal reserves in the ground
Irony: On the one hand you have the Polish government hosting the UN climate talks in Warsaw, where the talk is all about the emerging climate crisis being driven by fossil fuels. On the other hand, the Polish government is pressing ahead with building a $3.7 billion dirty coal plant which may never be profitable.
Slowly but surely the concept of “stranded assets” is taking hold and dirty coal looks likely to take the first big hit from a huge Norwegian pension fund.
In spite of a heightened institutional focus on combating climate change, the World Bank increased its lending for fossil fuels over the last year. Meanwhile, the World Bank also has a ways to go in terms of tackling its objective of supporting universal access to energy, as only 8 percent of the Bank’s energy portfolio last year targeted the world’s poorest.
