[Press Release]
48 organizations urge JICA and ADB to abandon plans to finance
the Hin Kong gas power project in Thailand
Japan Center for a Sustainable Environment and Society (JACSES)
Friends of the Earth Japan
Today, 48 organizations from more than 15 countries announced a joint statement calling for the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and Asian Development Bank (ADB) to reject financing the Hin Kong gas power project in Thailand. This project seeks to construct a 1,400 megawatt gas-fired power plant in Muang District of Ratchaburi Province, which will lock in greenhouse gas emissions and stifle the just transition to renewable energy that is needed to address the climate crisis.
Thailand currently has a considerable power surplus that exceeds demand. This surplus is driving an increase in electricity prices. It is unjustifiable to subject the people of Thailand to the economic impact of an unnecessary gas-fired power project with low profitability over 25 years, stifle the growth of solar power generation, which has a great potential for success in Thailand, and hinder the country’s climate action.
As countries turn away from coal, gas expansion poses one of the most serious threats to our planet and communities. According to Carbon Brief [*], gas played a larger role in increasing global emissions than coal in every year between 2013 and 2019. Building new gas infrastructure will potentially lock in decades of new emissions at a time when developing economies can and must leapfrog gas to transform and develop their energy sectors for a climate safe future.
Just few days ago, on April 16, Japan stated in a Joint Leaders’ Statement with the U.S. [**] to “align official international financing with the global achievement of net zero greenhouse gas emissions no later than 2050 and deep emission reductions in the 2020s, and will work to promote the flow of public and private capital toward climate-aligned investments and away from high-carbon investments.” Hence the financial support on the Hin Kong gas power project should not be provided and the support should be on projects that benefit the people of Thailand and protect the global environment.
Footnotes
*https://www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-global-fossil-fuel-emissions-up-zero-point-six-per-cent-in-2019-due-to-china
**https://www.mofa.go.jp/mofaj/files/100178075.pdf