Standard Chartered to stop financing new coal-fired power stations

The company wants to join the growing ranks of lenders and financiers in ending support for the dirtiest fossil fuel amid rising concerns about climate change.

StanChart said in a statement on its website that “save where there is an existing commitment, it will cease providing financing for new coal-fired power plants anywhere in the world.”

Burning coal to generate power produces large quantities of carbon dioxide and other so-called greenhouse gases responsible for climate change. An international agreement reached in Paris in 2015 committed signatories to cutting fossil fuel use.

Many global banks have exited or cut support for coal.

Europe’s largest bank HSBC said in April it would mostly stop funding new coal power plants, along with financing for oil sands and Arctic drilling.

Japan’s Marubeni Corp, a major investor in coal-fired power stations, said last week it would no longer start any new such projects and will halve its generating capacity using the fuel by 2030.