After activists called for a national audit of the Bank of Korea, South Korea’s large coal-fired power projects are facing re-examination. These banks provided $1 billion of the $4.3 billion cost.

The 2.1GW power station was developed by the Samcheok Blue Power Plant in Gangwon Province and is scheduled to be completed in April 2024. Solutions for Our Climate is a South Korean non-governmental organization that targets seven funders of the project, including two state-owned banks, the Korea Development Bank and the Korea Industrial Bank.

It called on the government's audit and inspection committee to investigate these institutions, claiming that their decision to support the plant did not take into account the credit ratings of strategic partners. As far as state-run lenders are concerned, it stated that this violated their fiduciary duty to taxpayers.

Park Ji-hye, director of climate solutions, said: “There is no excuse for coal power projects to continue, whether financial or environmental.” In recent years, South Korea’s anti-coal power sentiment has been growing, prompting many companies to leave the industry. In January 2021, six subsidiaries of Hanwha Group, one of South Korea's largest conglomerates, promised to divest any investment in future coal projects in South Korea or elsewhere. The six added that they "will not buy any corporate bonds issued for the construction of domestic and foreign coal-fired power plants."

Due to concerns about coastal erosion, the Samcheok project is currently not half completed and has been suspended since October. So far, about 2.6 billion US dollars have been spent in this area.

South Korea is building 4 coal-fired power projects, 2 of which will be put into operation this year, and 1 will be put into operation in 2023. If Samcheok is completed on schedule, it is considered to be the last coal-fired power project in South Korea.

In 2020, 28% of South Korea's electricity will come from about 60 coal-fired power plants. It has officially announced that it will achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 and sealed 28 old power stations in March.Editor/Baohongying