On November 14, 2022, Fair Finance Asia (FFA) and partners will conduct back-to-back sessions in Bali, Indonesia: a fireside chat aimed at discussing Asia’s just energy transition, and a Media Lab aimed at generating solutions to greenwashing and misinformation, and balanced reporting on sustainability issues. (Image credit: G20 Indonesia 2022)

Session 1 – Fireside Chat 

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warns that the world has less than ten years to drastically reduce global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in order to avoid a catastrophic climate breakdown. Similarly, the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) has concluded that “the world will need to decrease fossil fuel production by roughly 6% per year between 2020 and 2023” to avoid exceeding the 1.5-degree Celsius threshold set by the Paris Agreement. 

Despite these cautionary projections, Asian countries still rely heavily on fossil fuels. In 2021, a study by Fair Finance Asia (FFA), “A Future Without Coal: Banking on Asia’s Just Energy Transition,” revealed continued growth in Asia’s coal sector even after the signing of the Paris Agreement in 2015. This is largely due to continued financing by banks and investors operating in the region.  

Clearly, financial institutions that fund Asia’s energy sector have a critical role to play in accelerating the realization of a new vision for the region’s energy future, not only by reorienting financing to renewable energy innovations but also by ensuring that the transition leaves no one behind. Just energy transition strategies must respect and protect the rights and active participation of communities and safeguard their health, livelihoods, culture, and heritage. 

FFA’s fireside chat, “Financing the Just Transition: Powering Asia’s Sustainable Energy Future,” aims to: 

• Review Asia’s readiness to make fossil fuels history by highlighting the opportunities and gaps in existing renewable energy transition initiatives, as well as the critical socio-environmental criteria and conditions that need to be balanced optimally to achieve a truly just energy transition.   
• Facilitate a dialogue regarding the key recommendations and next steps in the G20’s agenda, particularly in line with energy transition, and the corresponding sustainable finance policy levers to support its acceleration.  
• Identify key priorities for follow up during the Indian G20 Presidency and catalyze multistakeholder coordination, including among civil society actors, to strengthen the progress in monitoring sustainable finance policies that support Asia’s energy transition.       

To register as an online participant, click here

Session 2 – Media Lab 

A new vision for a sustainable energy future is urgently needed. However, simply replacing fossil fuels with renewable energy is not necessarily a straightforward solution, particularly if such a drastic shift causes increased injustices in other parts of the regional and global energy system. The Asian financial sector and leaders must accelerate action towards just energy transition that leaves no one behind, by implementing time-bound strategies that respect the rights and active participation of communities, protect the rights of workers, and safeguard the health, livelihoods, and culture of communities. In doing so, they must also welcome the role of civil society organizations (CSOs) and the media in independently monitoring the progress of their transition initiatives.   

Tracking commitments and monitoring progress in this area, however, are becoming increasingly challenging for the media and CSOs. Not only are they faced with limited, and/or a total lack of, reliable data, they must also contend with increased greenwashing activities and rampant misinformation, while navigating the nuances of producing reports that highlight both problems and solutions in optimal balance. 

In this context, Fair Finance Asia (FFA), C20 Indonesia, Responsibank Indonesia, and EB Impact are joining forces to bring journalists together for a Media Lab alongside the G20 Leaders’ Summit on November 14 in Bali, Indonesia. The aim is to explore solutions to the challenges of greenwashing and misinformation, towards more balanced reporting on sustainability issues. 

For more details about the Media Lab, click here

More Information 

“A Future Without Coal” full report is available here. 

Other relevant session materials, click here. 

For more information please contact: 

Kyle Cruz, Communications Coordinator, Fair Finance Asia 

Email: kylejuliene.cruz@oxfam.org   

About FFA: Fair Finance Asia is a regional network of civil society organization (CSOs) committed to ensuring that financial institutions’ respect and uphold the rights and social and environmental well-being of local communities. Eight countries within the region are part of the FFA network: Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Japan, Pakistan, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam. 

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