Cancelling coal: Where next for the ADB’s Jamshoro coal plant loans?

This briefing examines the Asian Development Bank’s involvement in Jamshoro coal plant and proposes an alternative approach for the bank to support a just energy transition in Pakistan.

This briefing was published by Recourse in collaboration with Alternative Law Collective ahead of the Asian Development Bank annual meetings 2026. Download the full briefing here or read the Executive summary below. 

Executive summary

The Jamshoro coal power plant, located in Sindh province, Pakistan, was the last coal project directly funded by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) before the ADB committed to cease funding for new coal power plants in 2021. However, in the twelve years from the project’s approval in 2013 to when the plant became fully operational in 2025, Pakistan moved on from the need for Jamshoro. 

Put simply, Pakistan can no longer afford a project that will bring more problems than benefits. Power from Jamshoro will be permanently under-used, because the country’s national grid is already oversupplied with energy due to a stagnation in demand and the growing contribution of distributed solar power. Moreover, since the ADB’s investment was approved, Pakistan’s external debt has more than doubled to nearly $140bn, and will be exacerbated further by loan repayments for Jamshoro. 

This briefing summarises why the ADB should do everything in its power to ensure the early retirement of the Jamshoro coal power plant and repurpose the debt associated with the project to support a just transition based on renewables and a supportive energy storage system. 

In this briefing, we summarise:

• Why finance for the Jamshoro project contravenes the spirit of the ADB’s no coal policy
• The local social and environmental impacts of the project
• Examples of how the project is not compliant with the ADB’s safeguards
• How the project has exacerbated Pakistan’s debt burden
• Why Jamshoro is not an effective or least cost option for providing power

Based on this, we conclude that the only just solution to Jamshoro must involve:

• Cancelling the debt: the ADB should cancel outstanding repayments for Jamshoro to help reduce Pakistan’s debt burden and free up fiscal space for climate investments.
• Cancelling the coal: the ADB should work with the government of Pakistan to enable and finance the early retirement of the Jamshoro coal plant, as soon as possible.
• Repurposing for renewable energy storage: the ADB should support the repurposing of the Jamshoro power plant site for battery or thermal energy storage systems (BESS/TESS). 

Photo of Jamshoro coal plant by Alternative Law Collective.