China makes strides on Xi’s pledge to stop backing coal-fired power abroad, but ‘naughty’ firms threaten headway: report
- China cancelled a third of its overseas coal projects in the last two years, avoiding 6.2 billion tonnes of emissions, report says
- Chinese companies investing in new coal power plants are testing the ambiguity of the pledge, analyst says
However, investments in overseas coal capacity haven’t come to a complete standstill, and some previously cancelled or shelved coal projects have been revived despite the commitment, according to climate analysts who expressed concern about the trend.
China cancelled 36 overseas coal plants with a combined capacity of 36.3 gigawatts (GW) between September 2021 and July 2023, according to a report released on Monday by Manila-based non-profit People of Asia for Climate Solutions (PACS) and the Helsinki-based Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA). The report comes two years after Chinese President Xi Jinping’s announcement at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) that China would “not build new coal-fired power projects abroad”.
The reduction translates to avoiding 163 million tonnes of carbon-dioxide emissions per year, or a total of 6.2 billion tonnes of emissions over the lifetime of the coal projects, according to the report.
At the time of the 2021 announcement, Chinese financing stood behind a total of 103 coal plants in the planning or construction phases in 28 countries with a combined capacity of 104GW. If completed, those projects would emit 471 million tonnes of carbon dioxide annually.
The amount of capacity cancelled during the second year of Beijing’s pledge increased by 70 per cent compared with the first year, showing an acceleration of China’s overseas climate actions, the report said.
