{"id":4275,"date":"2021-05-07T19:10:03","date_gmt":"2021-05-07T11:10:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/malaysia\/?p=4275"},"modified":"2025-03-26T11:15:54","modified_gmt":"2025-03-26T03:15:54","slug":"maybanks-2050-net-zero-emissions-a-decade-too-late","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/malaysia\/press\/4275\/maybanks-2050-net-zero-emissions-a-decade-too-late\/","title":{"rendered":"Maybank committed to achieving net-zero emissions by 2050, a decade later than the world needs."},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 7 May 2021<\/em> \u2013 Maybank announced<\/a> its plan to stop financing new coal activities. Maybank has also committed to a carbon-neutral position of its emissions by 2030 and to achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. This makes Maybank the second bank in Malaysia to no longer finance new coal activities, even though they have not been as ambitious as their rival, CIMB, which last year committed to phase out coal from its portfolio by 2040<\/a>.

Bank Negara Malaysia, Malaysia\u2019s Central Bank, has repeatedly highlighted the critical importance of financial institutions managing climate risk<\/a>.

\u201cAs the 4th largest Southeast Asian bank in terms of assets, Maybank has an important role to play in addressing the climate crisis. Through its lending and investing activities, Maybank can move the money away from the destructive coal business\u201d, said Heng Kiah Chun, a campaigner from Greenpeace Malaysia.

Heng, added: \u201cWe expect Maybank\u2019s plan to achieve net-zero emissions to include metrics and targets as recommended by the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) so that investors and other stakeholders can see that the bank is making measurable progress.\u201d

The announcement followed a campaign<\/a> by a coalition[1]<\/sup><\/a> of environmental groups calling on Maybank to live up to its ESG commitment and end finance to coal.

Coal is the single most significant source of<\/a> global temperature increases to date. Scientists say if we want to meet the Paris Agreement\u2019s 1.5\u00b0C target, coal needs to be phased out globally by 2040<\/a>.

\u201cMaybank\u2019s commitment to no longer finance new coal activities is a first step. But before we get too excited, we need Maybank to confirm it\u2019s commitment extends to corporate finance and other forms of support to the coal sector, such as arranging bonds or sukuk for coal projects. We also want to see Maybank match or beat its competitor CIMB, which has committed to phase out coal exposure by 2040\u201d, said Binbin Mariana, Market Forces Energy Finance Campaigner.

Widya Kartika, researcher from Auriga added: \u201cThe latest science regarding the world\u2019s remaining carbon budget points to a net zero being necessary by 2040<\/a>, a decade earlier than Maybank\u2019s commitment. We will continue pushing the bank to phase out coal from its portfolio by 2040. Given that Maybank\u2019s coal financing comprises only 0.2%<\/a> of its total portfolio, it should be easy for Maybank to phase out coal by 2040.\u201d

Between 2010 and 2019, Maybank provided US$ 1.8 billion <\/a>to coal through their lending and bond arranging activities. Last year, Maybank was involved in a syndication of banks that provided US$ 2.6 billion for the Jawa 9 and 10 coal power plant project in Indonesia.

\u201cMaybank\u2019s commitment to stop financing new coal activities must immediately be translated into concrete-immediate action so it will not be just a pseudo commitment to gain a good institutional impression. Maybank should immediately review their recent problematic decision by involving in Jawa 9 and 10 coal-fired power plant funding. Maybank still has a momentum to withdraw from this project since the construction has not started yet due to strong public pressure. Maybank will only put its reputation on the edge by insisting on taking part in a dirty energy project that will have a serious impact on environmental sustainability and the health of millions of people in Banten, Indonesia\u201d, said Andri Prasetiyo, a Researcher from Trend Asia.

The bank was also involved in a US$ 400 million syndication loan to Indonesia\u2019s coal giant, Adaro Energy, last month. Adaro is the second-largest coal producer in Indonesia. It controls at least 31,380 hectares of land<\/a>, producing 54 million tonnes of coal in 2020<\/a> alone. Adaro estimates its coal reserves at 1.1 billion tonnes<\/a>. Burning all of these reserves would release 2.2 billion tonnes of CO2<\/sub>-e, almost equivalent to India\u2019s annual emissions.

As part of Maybank\u2019s commitment, the bank committed to transitioning together with its existing borrowers to achieve a sustainable renewable energy mix.

\u201cAdaro has not disclosed any plan to produce less coal, instead planning to produce as much coal in 2021 as it did last year. As a lender, Maybank should raise concerns about Adaro\u2019s attachment to coal and urge Adaro to develop clear plans with metrics and targets for phasing out coal by 2040\u201d, said Merah Johansyah, Indonesia\u2019s Mining Advocacy Network Coordinator.

ENDS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

\n\n

[1]<\/sup><\/a> Organisations supporting the campaign include Asian Peoples\u2019 Movement on Debt and Development (APMDD), Auriga Nusantara, Greenpeace Southeast Asia, Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi), Indonesian Mining Advocacy Network (Jatam), Market Forces, and Trend Asia.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Maybank is the second bank in Malaysia to no longer finance new coal activities, even though they have not been as ambitious as their rival, CIMB, which last year committed to phase out coal from its portfolio by 2040.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":4279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"p4_og_title":"","p4_og_description":"","p4_og_image":"","p4_og_image_id":"","p4_seo_canonical_url":"","p4_campaign_name":"not set","p4_local_project":"not set","p4_basket_name":"not set","p4_department":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[130,126],"tags":[84,86,114],"p4-page-type":[14],"class_list":["post-4275","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-green-future","category-policy-and-justice","tag-environmental-justice","tag-energy","tag-wins-and-losses","p4-page-type-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/malaysia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4275","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/malaysia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/malaysia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/malaysia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/malaysia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4275"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/malaysia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4275\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4280,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/malaysia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4275\/revisions\/4280"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/malaysia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/malaysia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4275"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/malaysia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4275"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/malaysia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4275"},{"taxonomy":"p4-page-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/malaysia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/p4-page-type?post=4275"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}