Coming clean: Can the IFC help end coal finance?

The report examines the IFC's Green Equity Approach (GEA), which aims to phase out coal investments in financial institutions by 2030. While analysis of 81 high and medium-risk investments between July 2019 and June 2020 shows that 83% explicitly exclude coal, the report identifies significant loopholes. Specifically, it notes that the GEA excludes captive coal plants for industrial use and that debt ring-fencing may be ineffective. A case study of PT Bank KEB Hana Indonesia, the first GEA pilot client, reveals that despite the framework, the bank provided project finance for the Java 9 and 10 coal plants in Indonesia in July 2020.

• The IFC's Green Equity Approach (GEA) requires equity partners to increase climate-related lending to 30% and reduce coal-related project exposure to 5% by 2025, reaching zero or near zero by 2030.
• An analysis of 81 high and medium-risk financial intermediary (FI) investments between July 2019 and June 2020 found that 83% (67 projects) explicitly exclude coal, while only 21% (17 projects) specifically exclude oil and gas.
• The GEA contains a loophole by excluding 'captive coal-fired power plants' used for industrial applications such as cement, chemical industries, or mining from its definition of coal-related projects.
• The report argues that the IFC's use of 'ring-fencing' for debt investments to exclude coal is potentially ineffective because money is fungible and the Compliance Advisor Ombudsman (CAO) has found that the IFC does not always adequately track these investments.
• PT Bank KEB Hana Indonesia, the first client to pilot the GEA, provided project finance in July 2020 for the Java 9 and 10 coal plants in Indonesia, despite the GEA's goal to phase out coal.

APA

Geary, K., & Temizyürek, C. (2020). Coming clean: Can the IFC help end coal finance? Trend Asia. https://trendasia.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Coming-clean-Can-the-IFC-help-end-coal-finance_FINAL-compressed.pdf

Chicago

Geary, Kate, and Ceren Temizyürek. Coming clean: Can the IFC help end coal finance? Trend Asia, 2020. https://trendasia.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Coming-clean-Can-the-IFC-help-end-coal-finance_FINAL-compressed.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Geary |first1=Kate |last2=Temizyürek |first2=Ceren |title=Coming clean: Can the IFC help end coal finance? |publisher=Trend Asia |date=October 2020 |url=https://trendasia.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Coming-clean-Can-the-IFC-help-end-coal-finance_FINAL-compressed.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{geary2020coming, author = {Geary, Kate and Temizyürek, Ceren}, title = {{Coming clean: Can the IFC help end coal finance?}}, institution = {Trend Asia}, year = {2020}, month = oct, url = {https://trendasia.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Coming-clean-Can-the-IFC-help-end-coal-finance_FINAL-compressed.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }