The chimney of the JB Sims power plant in Michigan, USA is demolished. As part of responding to the climate crisis, financial institutions around the world are increasingly separating their hands from the coal business, but Korea is still ranked 9th in total coal investment. The National Pension Service ranked 11th in the world in terms of investment by individual companies. AP=Yonhap News
The National Pension Service’s investment in the coal industry ranks 11th among institutional investors in the world. It is pointed out that large-scale investment in the coal industry, which has a high carbon emission and adversely affects the climate crisis, is far from President Moon Jae-in’s declaration of zero carbon.
On the 26th, the German environmental group Urgewald announced the results of a survey of financial institutions’ investments in the coal industry with 25 organizations around the world.
12 trillion won in coal investment in the national pension system
Urgebalt Coal Investment Report. Data Climate Solution
As a result of the survey, Korea’s National Pension Service invested a total of 1,1423 million dollars (about 12.65 trillion won) in coal-related bonds and stocks. It was counted as the 11th largest individual investment institution in the world.
Among individual investment institutions, global asset management companies Vanguard and Black Rock ranked first and second respectively. Among the top 30 institutions in the amount of coal investment, the government-run institutions included the Korean National Pension Service and the Japanese Public Pension Fund (GPIF).
Korea’s coal investment 18 trillion won, 9th in the world
As of January 2021, Korea ranked 9th in the world by total investment related to the coal business. Data Climate Solution
Urgebalt is an organization that publishes the’World Coal Exclusion List’ that selects companies with a high proportion of coal-related businesses every year. This survey analyzed the stocks, bonds, and loans of 934’coal companies’ around the world over the past two years. This is the first time that financial institutions such as banks and pension funds have comprehensively analyzed the current state of investment in the coal industry.
According to the group, the global coal investment amounted to $1.3 trillion (about 142 trillion KRW). The first place is the US, which is investing a total of 602.414 billion dollars (about 667,233.8 billion won).
The total amount of investment in Korea was 16.8 billion dollars (about 18.600 billion won). It ranked 9th among the countries surveyed after the United States, Japan, the United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, and China. Corporate bonds are $7.83 billion (approximately 8,700 billion won), and equity investments are $8.9 billion (approximately 9.9 trillion won).
Among domestic institutions, the largest lending to the coal industry was KDB Industrial Bank, a national bank. A total of 2.213 billion dollars (about 2.43 trillion won) was given to new coal businesses at home and abroad. The second place was the Export-Import Bank, which lent a total of 1,569 billion dollars (about 1.73 trillion won).
“Financial’de-coal’, now a problem of financial soundness”
Among the Korean companies, KEPCO, Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction, POSCO, and LG International are listed on the list of coal companies that have invested heavily in the coal industry. Jan Ruble, an analyst at Reclaim Finance, who conducted the survey, said, “The world’s leading asset managers have excluded most of the coal companies from their portfolios. Considering the impact on climate change, companies should withdraw their investments in coal, even for survival.” He added.
Sejong Yoon, attorney at Climate Solutions, an environmental group, said, “Because the coal business has already lost its market competitiveness, stopping investment in the coal industry is directly related to the problem of financial soundness.” We must immediately respond to change.”
Reporter Kim Jeongyeon [email protected]
