Two government-affiliated financial institutions of Japan, the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (hereinafter JBIC) and the Nippon Export and Investment Insurance (hereinafter NEXI) announced that they stopped their official consideration to finance and insure the Morupule B coal-fired power plant project in Botswana. It was a subcritical 150MW x 2 units project planned by a Japanese company, Marubeni Corporation (hereinafter, Marubeni) and POSCO Energy, a Korean company. We, the environmental NGOs who have been asking them not to implement/support this project, welcome this decision by JBIC and NEXI.
At the Morupule B coal-fired power station, there are four units (unit No. 1-4) already in operation, but these units have been frequently criticized for their pollutant emission levels exceeding the emission concentration standards and the air quality standards. The project planned to build another two units in addition to these four existing units. In the environmental assessment for the two units (unit No. 5 and 6), it was already expected that if those new units were to be built, the pollutant emission levels would further exceed the air quality standards. In addition, because building any new coal-fired power plants did not align with the Paris Agreement, we had been urging Marubeni to stop the project, and urging JBIC and NEXI to discontinue with the project.
Meanwhile, the PPA negotiation between the Government of Botswana and Marubeni was derailed due to the government’s refusal to pay a large contract deposit , based on its concern over electricity oversupply and soaring electricity charges in the future. JBIC and NEXI’s decision to not move forward with the project came into light through our inquiries, but they did not provide us the reasons for their decision.
Marubeni, JBIC and NEXI are still promoting the construction of other coal-fired power plants including Cirebon 2 in Indonesia and Nghi Son 2 in Vietnam. We are urging them to stop all the coal-fired power projects, both currently planned and under construction, immediately.
References:
Factsheet: Morupule B (Units 5&6) coal-fired power project
https://sekitan.jp/jbic/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Fact-Sheet-Morupule-B_en_20171023R.pdf
Divest Marubeni Campaign Site
https://sekitan.jp/jbic/en/marubeni-campaign
Contact for this release:
Yuki Tanabe, Japan Center for a Sustainable Environment and Society (JACSES)
Phone: +81-3-3505-5553 Email: tanabe@jacses.org