China will not build coal-fired power projects abroad: Xi
Country's pledge could cull $67.6 billion of investment as it slashes future carbon emissions, analysts say
NEW YORK : Chinese leader Xi Jinping said China would not build new coal-fired power projects abroad, using his address at the United Nations General Assembly to add to pledges to deal with climate change.
Mr Xi provided no details, but depending on how the policy is implemented, the move could significantly limit the financing of coal plants in the developing world.
China has been under heavy diplomatic pressure to put an end to its coal financing overseas because it could make it easier for the world to stay on course to meet the goals of the Paris climate agreement to reduce carbon emissions.
Mr Xi's announcement followed similar moves by South Korea and Japan earlier this year, and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and US climate envoy John Kerry had urged China to follow the lead of its Asian counterparts.
"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 his pre-recorded video address at the annual UN gathering, in which he stressed China's peaceful intentions in international relations.
China's pledge to stop building coal-fired power plants overseas could cull US$50 billion (S$67.6 billion) of investment as it slashes future carbon emissions, analysts said, although Beijing's own domestic coal programme is still propping up the dirty fossil fuel.
The announcement could affect 44 coal plants earmarked for Chinese state financing, according to Global Energy Monitor (GEM), a US think-tank.
That has the potential to reduce future carbon dioxide emissions by 200 million tonnes a year, GEM said.
Mr Xi repeated pledges from last year that China would achieve a peak in carbon dioxide emissions before 2030 and carbon neutrality before 2060.
Some experts have criticised those targets as not ambitious enough, though it allowed Beijing to claim moral high ground on the issue after then-US President Donald Trump, who had called climate change a "hoax", had withdrawn from the Paris climate agreement.
LAST MAN STANDING
China, the world's largest greenhouse gas emitter, is still heavily reliant on coal for its domestic energy needs.
"China was the last man standing. If there's no public finance of coal from China, there's little to no global coal expansion," Mr Justin Guay, director of global climate strategy at the Sunrise Project, a group advocating for a global transition from coal and fossil fuels, said of Xi's promise.
Mr Guterres welcomed both Mr Xi's move on coal and US President Joe Biden's pledge to work with the US Congress to double funds by 2024 to US$11.4 billion a year to help developing nations deal with climate change. - REUTERS
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