Africa’s Largest Bank Stops Funding New Coal Plants

The largest bank in Africa by market capitalization, FirstRand Limited, will no longer finance new coal-fired power plants, the lender said on Wednesday in its updated energy and fossil fuel policy. From 2026 onwards, South Africa-based FirstRand will no longer provide direct project finance to new coal mines either, the bank said, as investor and societal pressure grows on the banking sector everywhere to rethink financing for fossil fuels.   FirstRand also pledged in its new climate policy to reduce the cap on its coal exposure further—from…