NGOs urge Bank of Tokyo - Mitsubishi to reject Vietnamese coal plant finance

(Friends of the Earth, Washington, 29 September 2017) NGOs have urged the Bank of Tokyo – Mitsubishi UFJ (BTMU) to reject financing for the Long Phu-1 coal plant in Vietnam. In light of its recent accreditation at the Green Climate Fund and the commitment to addressing climate change that this accreditation implies, BTMU’s support for this climate-polluting debacle would be particularly inappropriate and reflect a complete disregard for international climate goals as set out in the Paris Agreement. The US Ex-Im Bank environmental assessment of the project noted that it will produce 63 times the annual 100,000 tonnes of CO2 limit that requires alternative project analyses under Equator Bank Principles, an analysis that the Bank has failed to undertake... Long Phu-1 violates a broad set of environmental and social policies, and an independent expert analysis has demonstrated that the project sponsor’s consulting firm doctored the coal plant’s greenhouse gas emissions estimates to appear compliant with international policies.