(Corrects headline and lead paragraph to specify upstream
activities and last paragraph to say amount refers to 2009-2019
period)
By Kanupriya Kapoor
SINGAPORE, May 7 (Reuters) - The Asian Development Bank will
no longer finance coal mining or oil and natural gas production
and exploration, it announced in a draft policy statement on
Friday, a move welcomed by environmental groups, which said it
was a decade overdue.
The multilateral development bank, which focuses on
eradicating poverty in Asia, provided no timeline for its
commitment. It also laid out conditions under which fossil fuel
projects would continue to receive funding, such as where no
other cost-effective technology was available.
Yongping Zhai, head of the ADB's energy sector, said the
draft would be deliberated by its board of directors in October.
Green groups had earlier this week urged the ADB to end
loans to the entire fossil fuels sector. L4N2MO0C0
"The draft coal ban policy is a decade late, but it still
helps build the economic case for the energy transition to
governments and investors, and will help avoid more stranded
coal assets," said Pedro H. Maniego Jr., senior policy adviser
at the Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities.
"(...)If the Bank will consider fossil gas as a bridge and
transition fuel, it needs to stipulate an end," he added.
Set up in the early 1960s and headquartered in Manila, the
ADB has channelled $42.5 billion into the energy sector across
the region between 2009 and 2019, it said on its website.