TOKYO The Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) said on Thursday it will stop financing new unabated coal power projects by the end of this year to align with an agreement made by the Group of Seven nations earlier this year.

The official announcement comes as part of its ESG policy issued on Thursday ahead of the COP26 global climate conference.

In June, the G7 nations pledged to rapidly scale up technologies and policies that accelerate the transition away from unabated coal capacity, including ending new government support for coal power by the end of this year. 

Unabated coal power means lacking measures to cut emissions.

JBIC Governor Tadashi Maeda said in June that the bank will provide support for exporting coal power plants if they come with emissions-cutting steps such as carbon capture and storage (CCS) and co-firing ammonia. 

Under the new ESG policy, the state-owned bank is committed to pursuing ambitious and accelerated efforts to reduce its operational emissions to net zero by 2030, and to achieve net zero emissions in its finance portfolio by 2050.

It will also consider issuing green bonds to support global decarbonisation efforts.

(Reporting by Yuka Obayashi Editing by Chizu Nomiyama) ((Yuka.Obayashi@thomsonreuters.com; +813-4520-1265;))