Change, an environmental protection advocacy organisation, has called on DBS, Singapore’s largest bank, to suspend its funding of coal-fired power projects in Vietnam, citing concerns over their severe impact on public health and the environment.
The organisation told the Daily that the request had been sent to Peter Seah Lim Huat, independent chair of DBS Group Holdings & DBS Bank, and Piyush Gupta, CEO of DBS. The bank is considering funding some coal-fired power stations in Vietnam such as Nam Dinh 1, Nghi Son 2 and Vung Ang 2.
According to CHANGE, Vinh Tan coal-fired power project which is partly funded by DBS is causing serious environmental pollution, significantly affecting the health of more than one million residents in Binh Thuan Province.
Local people have suffered from diseases resulting from air pollution such as cardiovascular, respiratory and mental diseases and high risks of lung cancer and stroke.
In addition, the construction and operation of the Vinh Tan Power centre have impacted on seafood farming and processing activities and socio-economic development as a whole in the province.
According to a study by Harvard University, Vietnam will annually have some 19,220 fatalities by 2030 due to coal ash pollution.
CHANGE said it is also disappointed by DBS’s recent move to continue lending to coal-fired power projects in developing countries. The bank had announced to stop funding coal-fired power projects in developed countries but not developing countries, meaning that the Vietnamese have no right to enjoy the clean environment like those in North America or Western Europe.
DBS’s financial support may contribute to boosting greenhouse gas emissions.
According to the report “Developing coal-fired power plants in Vietnam: financial insight” by the Green Innovation and Development centre (GreenID), Vietnam has mobilised nearly $39.8 billion to generate 13,000 MW of coal-fired electricity. The investment includes $21 billion sourced from foreign investors and banks (52 percent), $6.6 billion from domestic firms and banks (17 percent) and the remaining 31 percent from undefined resources.
Besides Chinese and Japanese banks, lenders in the UK, France, Switzerland, Italy and Singapore have financed coal-fired power plants in Vietnam.
Nguyen Thi Hang, coordinator of GreenID, said banks have provided financing for coal-fired power projects to introduce equipment and consulting, design and construction services of companies in such countries to Vietnam.
Le Anh Tuan, deputy director of the Research Institute for Climate Change of Can Tho University, said it is necessary to call for local people to refrain from depositing money at those banks making loans for coal-fired power projects.
