According to a survey, the proportion of renewable energy in Asian banks’ energy finance has remained low over the last six years, at just 14%, with no obvious rising trend.
As of September 2022, only 21% of all pending energy investments by financiers in the region were for renewable energy projects, according to a report by Fair Finance Asia and the Stockholm Environment Institute.
Bernadette Victorio, Program Lead, FFA, stated that the findings from their new analysis demonstrate that no significant shift in energy financing and investments across Asia is leading to neither a just nor any genuine transition since the Paris Agreement.
Funding decisions that support continued fossil fuel finance, along with unambitious plans by Asian countries to reach net-zero emissions, prevent Asia from achieving the 1.5 degree Celsius objective. FFA calls on the financial sector and leaders in Asia to swiftly establish and put into effect policies that would enable a true transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources while safeguarding the rights and well-being of the most disadvantaged communities.
The analysis evaluated 13 Asian markets, including China, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Indonesia, India, Japan, Pakistan, as well as the Philippines.
It was discovered that more than half of the respondents from the 13 main markets rely on fossil fuels for at least 80% of their power generation and that, on average, respondents from these markets rely on coal, oil, and natural gas to supply 77% of their energy demands.