"Standard Chartered to pull plug on financing for coal plants"

Standard Chartered said it will stop financing new coal-fired power plants anywhere in the world as part of its commitment to support the Paris agreement on climate change. The move follows "detailed consultation with a range of stakeholders", according to a statement on Tuesday from the London-based bank. Environmental degradation, extreme weather and rising seas are among the climate change legacies left by burning coal, it said. Standard Chartered said its existing commitments are excluded from its new policy on coal energy. It has 14 project financing facilities in seven markets, which fund coal-power stations. A spokesperson for the bank declined to say how much money it held in coal projects. 

HSBC Holdings, Societe Generale and Deutsche Bank are among banks that have made similar pledges. Japanese lenders, among the biggest funders of coal projects, have also begun to shift towards more climate-friendly policies...Standard Chartered’s initiative marks an advance on Japanese and other lenders active in Southeast Asia, according to Julien Vincent, an executive director at Market Forces, "The fact that Standard Chartered was involved in syndicates for three coal power pants in Vietnam prior to this update makes it even more impactful. That’s three dirty coal projects, which would produce almost 700-million tons of CO² per year, that will now need to look elsewhere for finance."