UPDATE: IFC Cancels Support for Chan May LNG Power Plant in Vietnam

Recourse met with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) during the recent Spring Meetings in Washington DC wherein we raised concerns about the environmental and human rights consequences of funding the Chan May LNG power plant in Vietnam. We are happy to report that the IFC responded they have issued a cancellation of the mandate to engage with Chan May. This means the IFC will no longer support the gas power plant. 

In 2022, Recourse and our partners had several communications with the IFC to express concerns over the Chan May project’s risk of locking Vietnam into decades’ worth of greenhouse gas emissions, pollution, and high fuel costs. We also called on the IFC to support the release of the wrongfully jailed Vietnamese environmental leaders. Recourse learned that Chan May LNG received support from the IFC’s Facility for Investment Climate Advisory Services (FIAS) in 2021. In the FIAS 2021 Annual Review, Chan May LNG was identified as among the 10 ‘upstream’ projects to which FIAS had provided $60,000 in support. The Annual Review further emphasised that the Chan May LNG project would “support Vietnam’s economic growth by alleviating power shortages, supporting a shift to a lower-carbon electricity generation mix…”

The cancellation of IFC’s support for Chan May  LNG is another win for civil society campaigning against fossil gas. We thank all the colleagues who supported the campaign and are tirelessly working to move public financing out of fossil fuels.###