Sumitomo Mitsui Signals It May Curb Coal-Fired Power Lending
- President says lender is considering making policy stricter
- Dai-Ichi Life recently said it won’t finance overseas coal
Photographer: Tomohiro Ohsumi/Bloomberg
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Japan’s Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. has signaled it may rethink its financing of coal-fired power projects, a small step for the nation’s banking industry, which lags global rivals shifting away from one of the most-polluting fuels.
The Tokyo-based bank indicated this week that it may become the first major Japanese bank to tighten its stance on such funding. “Coal-fired power generation is relatively low cost and has a big impact on climate change, so we are considering to make our financing policy stricter,” President Takeshi Kunibe told reporters during an earnings briefing on Monday.