China pledges to stop building new coal energy plants abroad

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Getty Images image captionXi Jinping made his address in a video recording at the annual summit China will not build new coal-fire projects abroad, a move that could be pivotal in tackling global emissions. President Xi Jinping made the announcement in his address at the United Nations General Assembly. China has been funding coal projects in countries like Indonesia and Vietnam under a massive infrastructure project known as the Belt and Road initiative. But it has been under pressure to end the financing, as the world tries to meet Paris climate agreement targets. “China will step up support for other developing countries in developing green and low-carbon energy, and will not build new coal-fired power projects abroad,” Mr Xi said in a video recording at the annual summit. No further details were provided, but the move could limit the expansion of coal plants in many developing countries under China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The BRI has seen China fund trains, roads, ports and coal plants in numerous countries, many of them developing nations. For the first time in several years however, it did not fund any coal projects in the first half of 2021. China is also the […]

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2 comments

  1. Transitioning off fossil fuels is much harder than it should be. I hope China makes good on that promise.

    1. Hi Zack, I think they will. It appears that a trade dispute with Australia is part of the reason, they are boycotting a bunch of Australian exports right now including coal. This is to their own detriment really and I understand it is why there are rolling blackouts across China right now. So it seems politically motivated with a Happy Eco twist just in time for COP26. But I personally don’t really care why they do it, just as long as they do. 🙂

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