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Standard Chartered (the Group) today announced ambitious new targets to reach net-zero carbon emissions from its financed activity by 2050, including interim 2030 targets for the most carbon-intensive sectors. The Group’s approach is based on the best data currently available and aligns to the International Energy Agency’s Net Zero Emissions by 2050 scenario (NZE).

Whilst 33 of our 59 footprint markets do not at present have a commitment to reach net zero by 2050, we are setting out our plan for this timeline, recognising the pivotal role we can play in the transition. Many of these markets are currently reliant on carbon-intensive industries for their continued economic growth. Achieving a just transition – one where climate objectives are met without depriving developing countries of their opportunity to grow and prosper – will require capital and specialised support. We are uniquely placed to help by directing capital to markets that have both the greatest opportunity to adopt low-carbon technology, and some of the toughest transition-financing and climate challenges.

Our net-zero approach has three aims: 

Reduce the emissions associated with our financing activities to net zero by 2050, setting 2030 interim targets in our most carbon-intensive sectors

Our current estimate of in-scope baseline emissions from our corporate client base as at year-end 2020 is 45.2 million metric tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalents, associated with USD74.8 billion of assets (or 77% of our total drawn on-balance-sheet financing exposure of USD97.3 billion to corporate clients.) There is currently insufficient available data to accurately reflect the financed emissions of the remaining 23 per cent of our in-scope corporate lending assets.

We will stop financing, at an individual client entity level (e.g. subsidiaries), companies that are expanding in thermal coal. Ongoing provision of financial services to the client group will be subject to enhanced due diligence. We aim to reduce absolute financed thermal coal-mining emissions by 85 percent by 2030, in addition to the existing prohibition on financing new or expanding coal-fired power plants. By 2030 we will only provide financial services to clients who are less than 5 percent dependent on revenue from thermal coal.

As we expand our green and transition finance, we are targeting 2030 reductions in revenue-based carbon-intensity (i.e. the quantity of greenhouse gas emitted by our clients per USD of their revenue) of:

1) 63 percent for power
2) 33 percent respectively for steel and mining (excluding thermal coal mining)
3) ​30 percent for oil and gas

While the NZE foresees a decline in fossil-fuel production, progress won’t be linear and production of some fossil fuels may rise before it comes down in our markets, e.g. gas as it replaces more carbon-intensive alternatives such as coal in the transition phase.

By the end of 2022 we expect all clients in the power generation, mining and metals, and oil and gas sectors to have a strategy to transition their business in line with the goals of the Paris Agreement.

Having already covered nearly two-thirds of our in-scope financed emissions, targets for remaining carbon-intensive sectors will be announced in line with current guidelines from the Net Zero Banking Alliance, before the first quarter of 2024.

We are sharing our methodology transparently in a white paper to help collective learning and encourage discussion and debate. As standards and methodologies evolve, and data quality and availability improve, we will refine our emissions calculations further. To ensure transparency, we report yearly on progress, in detail, as part of the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial

Disclosures process:

Catalyse finance and partnerships to scale impact, capital and climate solutions to where they are needed most, including a plan to mobilise USD300 billion in green and transition finance

Our new Transition Finance Framework sets out how our transition finance will be governed by alignment to the NZE and a set of well-defined principles that help guide our clients onto a low-carbon pathway.

Accelerate new solutions to support a just transition in our markets, including a new dedicated Transition Acceleration Team to support clients in high-emitting sectors, and launch sustainable products

The Transition Acceleration Team will provide our clients in carbon-intensive sectors with deep expertise on how to accelerate their low-carbon transitions, and tools to measure their progress. We will launch a Universal Climate Finance Loan to incentivise clients to outpace national decarbonisation rates, as well as sustainable retail products such as green mortgages in key markets. In wealth management, by 2025 we aim to double sustainable investing assets under management and integrate environmental, social and governance considerations into our advisory activities.

José Viñals, Group Chairman, commented: “Following engagement with clients, shareholders and NGOs, we are today setting out our methodology for how we intend to reach net zero by 2050.

We are motivated by a belief that we can and must address the need for decarbonisation as a result of greater climate-related risks, which increase financing costs and hamper emerging markets’ long-term economic prospects.”

Bill Winters, Group Chief Executive, added: “We’re confident that we’re on a science-based trajectory toward net-zero financed emissions by 2050 that is consistent with the Paris Agreement.

As we reduce the emissions associated with our financing activities to net zero, we will also tackle financial barriers to the transition, including by making more green and transition finance available. This will help clients on a path to net zero while maximising the benefits of a just transition for people and communities.”

In the 18 years he played for Nepal, two distinct avatars of Paras Khadka emerged. The middle-order batsman and medium-pacer who captained the national men’s cricket team for a decade was a brilliant all-rounder, leading Nepal to some unbelievable wins, most notably during the T20i World Cup in 2014. His second avatar was that of a fearless speaker who never stopped talking about the need for sweeping reforms in how Nepali cricket has been run over the years. He repeatedly took on the Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) bigwigs, his employers who were mostly political appointees.

It thus comes as music to the ears of Nepali cricket fans that Khadka, after his retirement at the age of 33, is now interested in serving in the association. In fact, even though he has not said so publicly, his constant tussles with CAN administrators might have contributed to his relatively early retirement. Perhaps he had had enough. Khadka had given up captaincy in 2019 and would have retired the same year had there been other players in the pipeline to fill his giant boots.

In many ways Khadka was Nepal’s first sporting idol, loved across generations. The millennials could easily identify with his fearless persona. The ease with which he presented himself abroad was also something of pride for the whole country. The body language of the whole team had changed under him. The new message: they would be pushovers no more. Khadka, as captain, was also a master at working the media, a trait that helped bring much-needed attention to the dysfunctional state of national cricket.  

We here at ApEx would like to wholeheartedly thank Khadka for the countless moments of joy he brought to us while representing Nepal. You were a treat to watch. We also hope that you get into cricket administration soon. We need administrators who know the game, who can work in cricketers’ interests, and who can fend off political interference. Again, Captain Nepal fits the bill perfectly. 

President of Bibeksheel Sajha Party Rabindra Mishra has every right to freely explain his vision for the country, however odious his prescriptions may sound to many. Mishra urges the country to ditch federalism and hold a referendum on its secular status. These are valid political propositions. He is also right that there have not been enough informed public debates over these vital issues, neither at the time of constitution promulgation in 2015 nor after that. All those trying to shout him down because of his ‘regressive’ ideas are also into a kind of regression: stifling free speech.

Now, let’s get to some of Mishra’s ideas. He says federalism should be scrapped by the sovereign legislature. His main premise is that federalism was something imposed on Nepal and that it poses grave risk to Nepal’s territorial integrity. Secularism, another imposition, will meanwhile in his view tear apart the country’s social fabric. His high praise for monarchs also suggests he sees a place for monarchy in his imagination of Nepal.

There is little to suggest federalism is a greater risk than a unitary state. Since its independence in 1947, India has had a disproportionate sway in Nepal, a unitary state for most of this period. As Mishra himself says India in this period had proposed some treaties that threatened Nepal’s very existence. So it is disingenuous to argue that federalism, only installed in 2015, has already emerged as a bigger threat. Nor is his argument that the nascent federalism is unaffordable sound. In fact, devolution of power to the lower rungs have already sped up service delivery and eased public access to vital services. How do you put a price on that?

On secularism, too, some of Mishra’s claims are dubious. It was under the monarchy-run Hindu state that Evangelical Christianity spread in the country like wildfire. Secularism seems to have made no material difference in its spread or in the ‘breaking apart’ of Nepal’s social fabric, as Mishra puts it. Nor does Nepal’s post-1950 history suggest monarchy is somehow uniquely suited to protecting Nepali interests. Just like politicians today, the erstwhile monarchs acted more often in self than in collective interest. Rabindra Mishra has started an important debate (and ApEx only scratches its surface in this editorial). This is also the perfect time to prove him and the adherents of his beliefs wrong.

Consider the paradox: A constitutionally ‘socialism-oriented’ country continues to pour billions of rupees of taxpayer money, not into vital health and education sectors, but a perennially loss-making airline. In the pinch of the Covid-19 pandemic, the national flag carrier lost Rs 5 billion in the last fiscal year. Its total debt comes to Rs 47 billion. Yet the unions of the various political parties insist that the way forward is to continue with business as usual. They are now protesting against the organization’s planned part-privatization, as ‘privatization has never worked in Nepal’.

This is a specious argument, given the wretched history of the airline. Even before the pandemic, it was struggling to balance its books after the entry of better-managed private carriers. This was not just the case in the domestic sector but, increasingly, also internationally, as even here the entry of Himalaya Airlines challenged its monopoly on lucrative international routes such as Dubai and Kuala Lumpur. The purchase of four Airbus jets and the grounding of turboprops procured from China, both on pandemic-eve, only added to its burdens.

There can be no reason to continue with the failed formula applied to the NAC over the years. This entailed appointing political cronies, using them to channel airline procurement and leasing funds into the coffers of ruling parties and giving lucrative bonuses to politically inclined employees, even as the organization’s collective debt continued to mount. Other potentially workable plans such as handing over airline management to a foreign company were shelved too. If the NAC were to be run like a well-oiled private enterprise, more than a handful of greedy middlemen stand to lose their access to easy money.

Reform efforts have been initiated at various times by various governments, from across the political spectrum. But then the bureaucrats and union bosses of the same political parties have stymied such efforts each time. Either Nepal Airlines has to be permanently grounded or, more desirably, obstacles for its part-privatization must be cleared. There can’t be two ways about it. We cannot have a purely business-minded national carrier, as private airlines tend to shun difficult and less-profitable routes. But we can’t afford to lug along this white elephant any longer either.

Birth: 15 June 1947, Gulmi
Death: 15 July 2021, Kathmandu

There are perhaps only a handful of Nepali politicians who think well of their political foes. Ashok Kumar Thapa, chairperson of Gulmidarbar Rural Municipality, was one of them.

After the 2017 local government elections, the municipalities of the Gulmi district were dominated by representatives from CPN-UML and CPN (Maoist Center). Gulmidarbar was the only municipality in the district that elected chairperson as well as four of seven ward chairs from the Nepali Congress.

Following the elections, everyone thought that a political tussle would ensue between Thapa, the lone Congress chairperson, and other representatives. But nothing of the sort happened.

Thapa allocated more budget (almost double) to the communist-led wards compared to those led by his party. His fellow party members criticized him for this, but he argued that the budget was being allocated considering the wards’ needs.

Thapa was also known for treating officials, bureaucrats, and the whole citizenry like his own children. Even when he was out of power, Thapa made his presence felt by participating in social work—people considered him as more of a social worker than a politician.

Before his time in government, Thapa worked as a secondary-level teacher at a community school. He gave up teaching after being elected the district coordination committee member.

Despite his old age, Thapa was full of energy. His iconic initiatives included a drive to make the municipality thatched roof-free, providing free beds and ambulance facilities to pregnant women and planning to have drinking water taps in every household. Under his leadership, the rural municipality provided free sanitary pads for female students, conducted menstruation health awareness programs as well as regular free health camps. He also started a campaign to promote Ruru-Resunga as a tourist destination.

Thapa rolled out scholarship programs for students in community schools. He also proposed collaboration between private and public schools in order to recruit teachers to teach English in public schools.

Thapa recently passed away at a hospital in Kathmandu. The 74-year-old asthma patient had been bedridden for three months. He is survived by his wife and four sons.

Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba’s appointment as the new prime minister may be a cause of celebration for many after Oli’s rather forgettable term in office. But the country is not out of the woods yet. For it is far from certain that Deuba will be able to garner a majority in the Lower House within 30 days of his appointment, as he is constitutionally required to do.  

If he cannot, Nepal will automatically head into elections within the next six months, and the country is not ready for them yet. Despite some respite in infection numbers, Covid-19 continues to maintain its grip on the country, and the detection of the new delta variant only adds to the uncertainty. Thankfully, vaccines are starting to come, from all over the world and, at the current rate, it may not be long before the majority of the population is vaccinated. Yet it would still be premature to believe the virus will be sufficiently under control to allow safe elections in such a short time.

Elections are also costly. The next parliamentary elections, whenever they take place, are expected to cost the exchequer around Rs 100 billion. As things stand, the priority is corona-control and most of the state’s resources have to be spent on the same. Also, without taming the virus, there will be no elections. The Election Commission—which has just postponed the November polls Oli declared—also needs time to prepare. So the country may have to wait for at least a year for the parliamentary polls.

Holding elections in November 2022, as mandated by the constitution, will be the optimal path. A year and a half will be enough for the commission to prepare and the country will meanwhile train its focus on the pandemic. This means, ideally, the new government under Deuba should take the country to the polls. But that will entail at least a section of the CPN-UML, the biggest parliamentary party, backing his premiership—an unlikely prospect. Yet there appears to be no safer way out from the current political and constitutional quagmire. 

Nepal imported Rs. 28.60 billion worth of rice in the first 11 months of the fiscal year.

Even as various programs are being implemented to boost paddy production, the import bill of rice is rising. In the previous fiscal, rice worth Rs. 26.61 billion was imported from various countries.

In the current fiscal, Nepal produced only 5.62 million tons of rice, an insignificant increase from last year’s 5.5 million. In the past 10 years, various officials, including the prime minister and the agriculture minister, have been announcing self-sufficiency in paddy in the next three to five years. However, due to the non-implementation of plans and policies, more and more rice is being imported every year. Nepalis now have to depend on imported rice throughout the year.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development started a large-scale paddy production program in 15 districts from 2072/73 (2015/2016), expanding to 35 districts in 2073/74. The program aimed to increase her hectare productivity from 3.1 metric tons to 4 metric tons, to no avail.

The ministry also launched a program to promote fine and fragrant grain products in 20 districts from 2014. Under this program, 50 percent subsidy was provided for resource seeds and there was also a subsidy for green manure. Rs. 35 million-Rs. 45 million was annually allocated for this program.

The Prime Minister's Agriculture Modernization Project came into operation from the fiscal 2073/74 (2016/2017) to boost paddy production and reduce imports. Under this project, paddy plantation was divided into 24 blocks, five zones, and one super zone.

In 2017, the government had announced that the country would be self-reliant in paddy within five years. The target was to increase production from 51.51 million tons that year to 86.79 million tons in five years. However, with only one year left to reach the mark, the government has failed to meet that target.

Dozens of government programs have been launched in the last decade to make the country self-reliant in paddy. Paddy is grown on 47.5 percent of the cultivable land in Nepal. Last year, paddy was planted in 1.47 million hectares. Of this, the share of the Tarai region is 70 percent, both in terms of area and production.

“The inflow of remittance has increased the number of people who want to live an urban lifestyle. Consumers prefer aromatic, fine, long-grain rice. Thus the import of such varieties has increased,” says Yogendra Karki, secretary at the Ministry of Agriculture. 

According to Karki, a ‘rice mill model’ program has also been launched to increase paddy production. The rice produced under this program will be purchased directly by rice mills at fixed prices. Similarly, a plan has been implemented to develop fine and fragrant varieties of paddy in collaboration with the International Rice Research Center (IRI).

“The results will be visible gradually,” says Karki. “In the next three years, however, we will become an exporter of paddy.”

The ministry has projected six million tonnes of paddy production next year. Nepal’s annual demand is 6.7 million tonnes.

Birth: 1969, Gulmi
Death: 29 June 2021, Rupandehi

Shankar Bhandari was always among the top students in his class while he was in school and later in college. Raised in a well-to-do family, he never had to struggle financially in his life.

As his elder brother Chandra was into politics Shankar also got interested in trying to understand his country and society better.   

In his college days Bhandari had for a while been involved in student politics. He was even appointed chair of Nepal Student Union, the Nepali Congress student wing. But he would later pursue an academic career.

Bhandari wanted to inspire the young generation and he thought the best way to do so would be by teaching in schools, which he started doing in his high-school days. He wanted to learn as much as he could and then impart that knowledge on the next generation.

His keen interest in society later resulted in a PhD in sociology.

Bhandari invested his knowledge and skills in Nepal’s oldest university, Tribhuvan University, where he served in multiple capacities, including seven years as an assistant head at Tri Chandra Campus, four years as co-controller of the Office of the Controller of Examinations, and deputy director of Tribhuvan University Monitoring Directorate. Most recently, he was the director of the Student Welfare and Sports Directorate.

As the head of the Student Welfare Directorate, he worked directly with university students, who in turn remember him as a decent and progressive administrator and someone concerned about their wellbeing.

During his time at Tri Chandra, Bhandari worked restlessly with student unions for the improvement in the quality of education on offer.

Bhandari was recently in Butwal for his father’s first death anniversary. On the night of June 29, his car veered off the road and into the Charange River. Bhandari was rushed to a hospital nearby but succumbed to his wounds. He was 52.