More than a dozen Chinese coal power projects overseas were cancelled after
a ban last year on funding such plants, but loopholes could allow 18 others to
still go ahead, according to a study published Friday.
اضافة اعلان
China is the world's biggest emitter of the greenhouse gases driving global
warming. It has vowed to peak carbon emissions by 2030 and become
carbon-neutral by 2060, but these do not include its fossil-fuel investments
abroad.
It is also the largest public funder of overseas coal plants, and was
planning to build 67 in more than a dozen countries when President Xi Jinping
announced a ban on financing "new projects" in September.
Since then, Chinese developers have cancelled 15 overseas coal projects as
funding dried up and host countries demanded greener alternatives, a study by
the Helsinki-based Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) said.
The cancelled projects would have generated 12.8 gigawatts of electricity --
or the total power generation capacity in Singapore, the think tank added.
But a lack of clear rules has allowed Chinese developers to continue to
build new coal power projects, it warned.
"The key concern is that China will continue to fund or build new coal
projects to power industrial parks under the Belt and Road Initiative,"
said Isabella Suarez, a researcher at CREA, referring to Xi's $1 trillion
global infrastructure push.
"The loophole is that because the industrial parks have been years in
the making, additional coal on these projects would not be considered new, even
if... tenders are happening after the pledge to ban coal funding."
- Deadly impact -
China's top economic planner issued vague guidelines in March, telling
developers to "proceed cautiously" on coal plants that were in the
final stages of planning.
These could potentially stop Chinese funding for 32 planned coal plants and
prompt the "reexamination" of 36 others that are under way, according
to the CREA report.
However, "about 18 coal projects (in the pipeline) that can generate
19.2 Gigawatts of power have already secured financing and permits... and could
still go ahead," Suarez said.
AFP has sought comment on the report from the National Development and
Reform Commission, China's economic planner.
Most of these projects are in Indonesia, where China is investing billions
to mine nickel and other minerals needed to build electric vehicles, according
to data from the Global Energy Monitor.
Vietnam and Bangladesh have in recent months requested China to build gas
projects instead of the agreed coal projects, according to government notices.
The deadly impact of climate change -- from extreme heatwaves to more
intense superstorms -- is already being felt across the world.
Experts say emissions must be halved within a decade
to limit global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius (36 degrees
Fahrenheit) or ideally to 1.5C as stated in the Paris climate accord.
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