Italy has announced its formal withdrawal from the Belt and Road Initiative after joining the China-centered infrastructure and investment project in 2019.
The timing of the announcement that Rome won’t renew its BRI commitment is notable. It came only a day before the EU-China summit, which kicks off on Thursday. The summit will likely be more contentious than usual, with European leaders expected to push China on the treatment of EU firms amid discussions ...
Category: Coal Power
Backgrounder: The Fine Print of China’s No-Coal Pledge
In 2021, China’s President Xi Jinping announced that China would stop funding and building coal-fired power plants overseas. After the announcement, Chinese companies canceled about forty coal power projects. However, a similar number are still in limbo. If built, they would produce 245 ...
Chinese Company Expands Footprint in South Africa’s Energy Sector With New Solar Project
One of China’s biggest companies, the Fortune 500-listed PowerChina, is establishing itself among energy sector players seeking to offer solutions to the crippling blackouts predicted to last until 2027 in South Africa. The country is seeking to transition to ...
China Funded Many Coal Plants Around the World. Retiring Them Early Could Be a Bargain
China has funded about 39 GW of coal electricity around the world, particularly in South and Southeast Asia. If these plants continue operating until the end of their lifespans, they will breach 2040 carbon targets set by the International Energy Agency. ...
How China’s Overseas Coal Plants in South and Southeast Asia Can be Retired Early
By Alex Clark Chinese public financial institutions have financed almost 40 gigawatts of coal-fired power generation capacity outside China in the last decade. These coal plants, located predominantly in Indonesia, Vietnam, and Pakistan, as shown below, and with an average ...
A Chinese-Backed Solar Project in Lesotho Highlights Beijing’s New “Small is Beautiful” Infrastructure Development Strategy in Africa
Some 71 kilometers south of Lesotho’s capital Maseru, the new Mafeteng Solar Power Plant Project generates some 30MW of electricity that could easily power 30,000 homes running household appliances like a fridge, a TV, an electric cooker and a number of lights while also supporting some ...
Analysis from Cobus van Staden
Awkward Timing as Italy Withdraws from BRI
How Chinese Construction Giant Sinohydro Benefits From Sanctions and Power Shortages in Zimbabwe
Sanctioned and isolated by the West, Zimbabwe’s economy has taken a beating for more than two decades but in that period, a number of Chinese companies have stuck it out and become favorites winning contracts for big-ticket projects. Chinese state-owned Sinohydro ...
Chinese-Financed Coal Power Plants Making Life Very Difficult for Indonesia’s Coastal Communities
"It's hard to earn IDR 50,000 ($3) since the power plant is here,” said Dendi Arfani, a 26-year-old fisherman living in Teluk Sepang, a village in Indonesia's central Bengkulu Province. "It's not enough to cover our daily needs. Previously, in 2017, we could get a lot of ...
Chinese State Firm’s Growing Presence in South Africa’s Renewable Energy Sector as Coal Power Disappoints
Pinggao, a subsidiary of the world’s largest power company, the State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC), is investing in South Africa's renewable energy sector as circumstances push the country towards renewable energy options from its reliance on coal-generated electricity. In its ...
Graph of the Day: Where Does China’s Coal Come From?
Finland's Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air recently published a fascinating report on recent fluctuations in China's coal imports. Imports have spiked due to politics-inflected resumptions of imports from Indonesia and Australia, as well as because of moves to ...
China’s Confusing, Contradictory Policy on Coal Power
In September 2021, President Xi Jinping announced at the United Nations that China would immediately halt all financing of coal power projects abroad as part of Beijing's broader ambition to achieve carbon neutrality by 2060. ...