Bahk Eun-ji has been with The Korea Times since 2012, building a career across multiple desks. She began at the Business Desk, where she conducted in-depth interviews with key figures in Korea's corporate world. Later, she moved to the Politics & City Desk, focusing on education policy and social affairs. She later served as team leader of the digital content team, leading curation efforts on the newspaper’s homepage and reshaping print stories for social media audiences to enhance digital reach. Now back on the Politics Desk, she covers the National Assembly and the Ministry of National Defense, with a renewed focus on political developments.
Greenpeace denounces bailout of Doosan Heavy Industries
Activists from Greenpeace, Solutions for Our Climate, and Gyeongnam Korean Federation for Environmental Movements (KFEM), hold a press conference at KDB headquarters, Wednesday, Seoul, to stop the financial support to Doosan Heavy & Construction. /Courtesy of Greenpeace
By Bahk Eun-ji
By Bahk Eun-ji
Greenpeace is criticizing the Korea Development Bank (KDB) for 1 trillion won ($810 million) in emergency loans it recently extended to Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction amid the COVID-19 outbreak here.
The group held a press conference in front of the KDB building in Seoul with a number of environmental organizations including Solutions for Our Climate and Gyeongnam Korean Federation for Environmental Movements (KFEM), arguing that the loan from the KDB and the Export-Import Bank of Korea (Exim Bank) to Doosan Heavy Industries supports a company that derives nearly 80 percent of its sales from coal-fired power plant construction. Coal power plants are one of the largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions.
According to Greenpeace, Doosan Heavy's financial crisis was due to the loss of coal power's competitiveness and the company's failure to follow market trends. Investments in coal power globally have fallen by 80 percent over the past decade, according to data from the International Energy Agency.
The drastic drop in demand for new coal-fired power plant construction, including a substantial decrease in overseas plant projects, has caused Doosan Heavy's revenues to collapse, resulting in the total market value of the company to fall below 1 trillion won. The organization pointed out that if the company does not change to focus on renewable energy, which has market growth potential, the company will dig itself into deeper financial trouble.
“We are very concerned that this financing for Doosan Heavy will serve as support for overseas coal power projects such as the Jawa 9 and 10 in Indonesia. Bailout loans should be used to directly support small business owners that are suffering difficulties as a result of the COVID-19 situation,” said Mari Chang, climate and energy campaigner at Greenpeace.
She also said the support for Doosan Heavy conflicts with the ruling party's Green New Deal pledge for the National Assembly general elections on April 15. Despite requests from public financial institutions to participate in the loan, the failure of private financial institutions to get involved shows how the market evaluates Doosan Heavy, the organization added.
“Any financial support to Doosan Heavy, including the 1 trillion won loan, must be premised on the end of its coal power business,” said Joojin Kim, attorney and managing director of Solutions for Our Climate, an environmental group that participated in the press conference with Greenpeace.