A recent report by Inclusive Development International revealed that the ADB’s $600 million loan to Indonesia’s state-run electricity utility Perusahaan Listrik Negara, supposedly meant to promote the use of clean energy, is bankrolling the expansion of the Suralaya Power Station, Southeast Asia’s largest and dirtiest coal complex, and over a dozen other coal projects.
This runs contrary to ADB’s own Energy Policy 2021, which vowed not to support coal mining, processing, storage, transportation, and any new coal-fired power generation. The ADB must then ensure that coal exclusion clauses are explicit in loan agreements and that funds are disbursed in a separate account, as they require so themselves, so funds meant for green projects will not be mixed with fossil fuel projects.
