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China’s Largest Commercial Bank Says It Plans to Phase Out Financing Coal Projects

by Eric Olander
Exterior of an ICBC branch in Beijing, China. MARK RALSTON / AFP

The chief economist at China’s largest bank, the International Commercial Bank of China, and one of the world’s largest financiers of fossil fuel projects said the bank will begin to phase out support for coal power projects. 

Zhou Yueqiu told a banking forum last month that ICBC would “establish a road map and timeline for the gradual withdrawal of coal financing” as part of a broader plan to “expand the proportion of green investment and financing and formulate a carbon-neutral plan,” according to a report in the People’s Daily newspaper.

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