China’s long history of building coal-fired power plants in developing countries around the world is now over, said President Xi Jinping in a short, 15-minute video address to the United Nations General Assembly.
“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,” the President said from Beijing on Tuesday.
The new policy announcement, while significant, is not a huge surprise. China’s passion for building coal power plants in Africa, Asia, and other Global South regions has been steadily declining for years. In 2020, for example, Chinese financing of all energy projects in Latin America, including coal, plunged from $21.5 billion in 2015 to zero in 2020, according to data from Boston University.
That trend gained momentum in 2021 when China, for the first time since the launch of the BRI in 2013, failed to finance a single coal-power plant project, reported the Green BRI Insitute in Beijing.
The last remaining coal projects in the pipeline in Africa, namely the $3 billion Sengwa plant in Zimbabwe, have all been canceled.
However, Chinese environmental journalist Liu Hongqiao raised an interesting point when she noted that President Xi specifically used the word “build” (兴建) rather than “finance.” In her view, this “could mean stoping all sorts of Chinese engagements in overseas coal-fired power projects, i.e., lending, underwriting, insurance, construction, technology transfer, etc.” But the word choice is sufficiently vague that it could provide the Chinese government with some rhetorical wiggle room in the future if it chooses.
Finally, it’s important to note that President Xi’s commitment to stop building coal plants overseas has no bearing domestically. In the first half of this year alone, China approved the construction of 24 coal power plants across the country, according to Greenpeace.
SUGGESTED READING AND VIEWING:
- The United Nations: [VIDEO] President Addresses United Nations General Debate, 76th Session (English)
- The New York Times: China Pledges to Stop Building Coal-Burning Power Plants Abroad by Somini Sengupta and Rick Gladstone
- Reuters: In climate pledge, Xi says China will not build new coal-fired power projects abroad by Valerie Volcovici and David Brunnstrom, Michelle Nichols
