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Chinese President Xi Jinping told the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday that his country will stop promoting the growth of the world’s dirtiest fossil fuel abroad, in a major step to fight climate change: China , he said, “will not build new coal – electricity projects fired abroad.”
Xi’s announcement, in pre-recorded remarks, was a surprise move designed to elevate his country’s position in global efforts to curb global greenhouse gas emissions.
China currently produces the largest share of emissions. It is by far the largest producer of coal in the country and by far the largest funder of coal-fired power plants abroad, with a massive 40 gigawatt of coal power expected.
A hint of China’s change came earlier this year. For the first time in several years, China failed to fund new coal projects as part of its global development endeavor, known as the Belt and Road Initiative, in the first six months. from 2021.
Chinese coal projects have been significantly pushed back in countries like Bangladesh, Kenya and Vietnam, mostly from civil society groups.
The United States has repeatedly called on China to help build coal-fired power plants abroad. There was no immediate reaction from the White House on Tuesday.
What Xi didn’t tell the General Assembly was anything about China’s coal-fired power plants in his country. It builds the largest fleet of coal-fired power plants in its territory and most of its electricity still comes from coal. Xi has also not made any new announcements on his plans to limit emissions by 2030, beyond reiterating his pledge to peak in emissions before the end of this decade. This is a far cry from what is needed to keep the global temperature rise at 1.5 degrees Celsius, beyond which the world faces a much greater likelihood of devastating climate consequences.
“This is a milestone for the world’s largest provider of overseas coal finance,” said Simon Steill, Environment Minister for Grenada, one of the world’s smallest countries. susceptible to damage caused by climate change. “We look forward to seeing nationally proportionate action on coal.”
Coal combustion is the biggest source of carbon dioxide emissions, and after a decline from a pandemic year, demand for coal is expected to increase 4.5% this year, mainly to meet growing demand for electricity, according to the International Energy Agency.
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has called for a moratorium on new coal-fired power plants in virtually all of his global speeches he has made on climate change, his flagship theme.
Globally, coal is at a crossroads.
Spending on coal projects fell to its lowest level in a decade in 2019. And in the past 20 years, more coal-fired power plants have been retired or put on standby than put into operation.
In some countries where new coal-fired power plants were only recently built by the gigawatts, plans for new ones have been scrapped (like in South Africa), reconsidered (like in Bangladesh) or faced with funding issues (like In Vietnam). In India, existing coal-fired power plants are operating well below capacity and are losing money. In the United States, they are quickly downgraded.
Jake Schmidt, senior strategic advisor for international climate issues at the Natural Resources Defense Council, a research and advocacy group, called Xi’s announcement “a very big step.”
“China has been under a lot of pressure,” he said. “If he wants to be a climate leader, he cannot be the main financier of coal-fired power plants abroad.”
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