lørdag 27. april 2019

Belt and Road summit puts spotlight on Chinese coal funding

The Belt and Road forum, which opens on Friday in Beijing, has been billed by climate campaigners as a pivotal moment that will determine whether China uses its vast financial weight to nudge the world towards renewable energy or continues to promote expansion by its fossil fuel companies.

In recent years Chinese banks have become the lenders of last resort for coal projects in south Asia, Africa and the Balkans that the World Bank and other international institutes have refused to fund because this dirtiest of fuels is the primary source of carbon emissions from electricity generation. Although China has won kudos for trying to clean up its environment by cutting dependence on coal, its companies are making up for lost business at home by expanding overseas. Most of their funding comes from the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).