With the 29th session of the Conference of Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) having begun this week in Baku, Azerbaijan, the promised global shift from fossil fuels remains unmet as its use continues to expand in Southeast Asia, with the backing of international financiers, environmental groups say.
As COP29 began, civil society organizations held a press conference highlighting contradictions in the commitments made at COP28, the urgent need for robust climate finance, and the call for clearer regulations to prohibit public funding for oil and gas projects. Nations are also calling for annual climate financing of 1 trillion USD, with at least 300 billion USD dedicated each year to mitigation efforts.
While renewable energy initiatives have risen, Philippine-based think tank Center for Energy, Ecology, and Development (CEED) said that the persistence of fossil fuel dependence has contributed to the worsening effects of climate change as global temperatures rise.
Southeast Asian countries have been bearing the brunt of extreme weather events as heat indexes reach 40C to 50C and storms have become more frequent.
CEED executive director Gerry Arances said that renewable energy financing in the region has been primarily driven by domestic banks in countries like the Philippines and Thailand.
However, despite Southeast Asia hosting half of the ongoing energy transition programs, those efforts are barely making a dent in curbing fossil fuel expansion as Arances said it is still supported by both public and private finance, including banks from Japan, Europe, and the United States.
“And what is very stark is that this massive fossil fuel expansion is basically financed and fueled by northern financial institutions,” he added.
Meanwhile, Germany-based environmental organization Urgewald pointed out that financial institutions, such as private banks that “brag about ceasing financing coal,” still support coal companies through corporate loans, shares, or bonds.
Those are the concerns that environmental groups hope the COP29 meetings will tackle as they call for a stricter global commitment to veering away from fossil fuel and toward the financing for energy transition.
As long as fossil fuel use continues to expand, assisted by financing and support from banks in developed countries, the goal of shift away from it will be much more difficult to achieve, especially in developing but vulnerable countries that face the biggest risks from climate change and global warming. Hopefully the COP29 will tackle the serious concern of these loopholes that allow corporations to continue pursuing projects that are harmful to the planet while at the same time pretending to do better.*
