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China had been the subject of a campaign of pressure from the United States and other G-7 countries to end its foreign support for coal power stations. US climate envoy John Kerry made coal the focus of his meetings with Chinese officials earlier this month.
In a statement Tuesday, Kerry welcomed the move.
“We’ve been in discussions with China for some time about this. And I am absolutely delighted to hear that President Xi has made this important decision, ”said Kerry. “It’s a great contribution. It’s a good start to the efforts we need to be successful in Glasgow.
“This is the announcement China could make right now and the one the United States wanted. Investments are already going in this direction,” said Joanna Lewis, associate professor at Georgetown University and climate policy expert. Chinese, in a statement. Tweeter.
The policy shift could help give momentum to global climate talks in November in Glasgow, Scotland, as countries pressured China to cut both its nationally-leading emissions to the world and its support for carbon dioxide-intensive industries abroad.
“China was the last government to still fund overseas coal-fired power plants, so this should eliminate the overseas coal pipeline that was about to take us over the climate cliff,” said Jake Schmidt, Senior Strategic Director of International Climate at the Natural Resources Defense Council.
The context: According to think tank E3G, the halt in coal funding could halt 40 gigawatts of coal projects currently in the pre-construction phase that have received Chinese public funding.
More than 70% of the world’s coal-fired power plants depend on Chinese funding, according to the Beijing-based Green Belt and Road Initiative. Chinese public finances have put more than 53 gigawatts of coal-fired electricity online globally, more than double Japan’s 21 gigawatts, according to EndCoal.org, a project by several environmental groups.
Rumors circulated for months that China had already told its state lending institutions it was ending coal funding, said Justin Guay, director of global climate strategy at climate group Sunrise Project, on calling it an “open secret”.
“The details weren’t announced, and the devil is still in the details – so there’s a lot we don’t know,” Guay said. “That being said, China is not doing things by halves.”
Yet China has continued to build national coal-fired power plants. Xi reiterated China’s goal of peaking emissions by 2030 and achieving carbon neutrality by 2060, although countries like the United States have been pushing it to accelerate those goals.
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