Emissions Accounting in Managed Coal Phaseout Finance

This consultation brief by the Climate Policy Initiative examines the conflict between financial institutions' net zero portfolio targets and the need to finance the managed early retirement or retrofitting of unabated coal-fired power plants.

• To align with the Paris climate agreement, the IEA indicates that unabated coal power generation must cease by 2030 in OECD countries and by 2040 in developing economies, while financing for new coal plants must stop.
• Managed coal phaseout involves the early retirement or complete retrofitting of unabated coal-fired power plants to produce clean energy before they reach the end of their natural lifecycles, a goal central to Just Energy Transition Partnerships (JETP).
• Financial institutions face a dilemma where funding coal transition mechanisms increases their portfolio emissions under current attribution methods like the GHG Protocol (2015) and the Partnership for Carbon Accounting Financials (PCAF), potentially contradicting their net zero or Paris alignment targets.
• Public finance institutions, such as national, bilateral, and multilateral development banks, are particularly critical for managed coal phaseout because these investments are often not financially economical and require careful execution to mitigate negative community impacts.

APA

Climate Policy Initiative (2023). Emissions Accounting in Managed Coal Phaseout Finance. https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/publication/emissions-accounting-in-managed-coal-phaseout-finance/

Chicago

Climate Policy Initiative. Emissions Accounting in Managed Coal Phaseout Finance. 2023. https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/publication/emissions-accounting-in-managed-coal-phaseout-finance/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Climate Policy Initiative |title=Emissions Accounting in Managed Coal Phaseout Finance |date=16 March 2023 |url=https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/publication/emissions-accounting-in-managed-coal-phaseout-finance/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{climatepolicyinitiative2023emissions, author = {{Climate Policy Initiative}}, title = {{Emissions Accounting in Managed Coal Phaseout Finance}}, institution = {Climate Policy Initiative}, year = {2023}, month = mar, url = {https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/publication/emissions-accounting-in-managed-coal-phaseout-finance/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }