Fair Finance Asia urges ASEAN banks to halt coal financing

Fair Finance Asia (FFA) and Influencing Just Energy Transition in ASEAN (I‑JET) issued a joint report, *Phasing out Coal, Phasing in Justice: Roadmap for Financing a Responsible Regional Coal Phase‑out in Asia*, calling on banks and investors across the ASEAN region to stop financing new coal projects and to strengthen social safeguards for workers and communities. The report reviews the transition landscape in Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, the Philippines and Thailand, noting that existing coal moratoriums, updated NDCs, early‑retirement plans, green taxonomies and carbon pricing remain insufficient for a Paris‑aligned 1.5 °C pathway. It warns that despite expanding international coal‑finance restrictions, funding continues through corporate lending and upstream mining, and that LNG is being promoted as a bridge fuel despite its drawbacks. Recommendations include a ban on new coal development, enforceable, time‑bound phase‑out plans with zero unabated coal, permanent retirement or conversion of existing units, site remediation, an end to coal financing, binding just‑transition commitments, and robust social safeguards such as income support, reskilling, decent green jobs, free, prior and informed consent for Indigenous peoples, gender‑responsive policies and protection of civic space and environmental defenders. Bernadette Victorio, Program Lead of Fair Finance Asia, said the test is whether the transition reduces inequality, while Shubert Ciencia of Oxfam in Asia highlighted ASEAN’s 2026‑2030 energy plan as a signal of accelerated decarbonisation.