NEW YORK — Five years after Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged at the United Nations General Assembly to stop financing overseas coal-fired power plants, China has cancelled the majority of its planned foreign coal projects, according to a report released alongside this week’s UN General Assembly and New York Climate Week.
The reduction marks a modest victory for global climate efforts at a time when Asia is reeling from severe climate-driven disasters. However, experts caution that Chinese firms may be utilizing regulatory loopholes to maintain support for foreign coal initiatives.
China’s financing decisions hold massive weight in the Global South, where it acts as both a dominant infrastructure funder and the global leader in manufacturing solar panels, wind turbines, and electric vehicles.
President Xi did not attend this year’s UN assembly, choosing instead to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump, while Vice President Han Zheng represented Beijing in New York.
Although the UN climate agency declared coal was being “consigned to history” in 2021, subsequent energy crises tied to the Russia-Ukraine War and the conflict involving Iran have altered energy strategies worldwide.
The closure of the Strait of Hormuz severely disrupted fossil fuel imports to Southeast Asia, forcing several nations to temporarily increase coal consumption to ensure basic energy security.
While regional governments have responded by expanding rooftop solar, electric vehicles, and nuclear energy, coal remains deeply entrenched in meeting Asia’s rising electricity demands.
”The growing desire among countries in Southeast Asia to secure reliable energy supplies could bring about another round of coal fever,” said Li Shuo, director of the Asia Society Policy Institute’s China Climate Hub, which “will continue to test the resolve behind the coal moratorium.”