Top Philippine banks no longer keen on financing coal power plants

MANILA, Philippines — At least four top domestic banks have reiterated their policies of not supporting additional coal plants in the country.

BDO Unibank, Bank of the Philippine Islands, Security Bank and the Development Bank of the Philippines said their coal exclusion policies that deter ?nancing for new coal capacity is in correspondence with the Withdraw from Coal: End Fossil Fuels (WFC:EFF), a coalition of environmentalists, faith leaders and other sectoral groups.

BDO Unibank VP and chief sustainability of?cer Marla Alvarez said the bank has ceased lending in additional coal capacity since 2022, and has committed that its coal exposure will not exceed two percent by 2033.

BPI, the ?rst domestic private bank to publicly announce its commitment to stop ?nancing green?eld coal projects and to zero coal exposure by 2032, also reiterated its policy: “We at BPI remain steadfast in our commitment not to ?nance any new green?eld coal power generation projects, and a new expansion unit, even if to an existing plant, is covered under BPI’s existing coal policy,” said Eric Luchangco, BPI’s chief finance of?cer and CSO.

Security Bank also stated that it will not be participating in the expansion project in line with their 2022 commitment to no longer ?nance new coal generation projects, and to wind down existing exposures by 2033.

Meanwhile, state-owned development bank DBP also reaf?rmed its 2017 policy of putting coal power facilities on its negative list.

“As to date, DBP’s existing policy putting coal power on a negative list remains in full force and effect,” said DBP VP Rustico Noli Cruz.

Land Bank of the Philippines in 2023, included power plants with green?eld status and those that will be newly constructed in its negative/exclusion list.

This year, however, the bank clari?ed that its coal ?nancing policy will follow the Department of Energy’s coal moratorium.

That top banks are backing out of the expansion project is a signal for the whole banking and ?nancing community to also do the same.

“With the disappointing outcome of the COP29, which did not double down on phasing out fossil fuels and only offered measly ?nancing for developing countries, there is an increasing imperative for the fossil fuel industry and ?nancing institutions to pivot from coal and gas, and re-channel resources to RE. This transition is especially important for the climate-vulnerable Philippines, which is experiencing one climate disaster after another,” said Bishop Gerardo Alminaza, lead convenor of the EcoConvergence National Hub.