"Asia public financiers behind bulk of new cross-border coal power funding over 2013-2018 -research", 14 July 2021

Asian public financing entities provided more than 90% of the funding for new cross-border coal-fired power projects around the world excluding China over 2013-2018, a new research report shows, with Chinese public financiers supplying half the funds.

The report, released on Thursday by the Boston University Global Development Policy Center, estimates that on top of the $15.6 billion in Chinese public finance for new coal-fired power over the period, Japan supplied around $9.4 billion, or 30% of total global public funding, and South Korea about $3.4 billion, or 11%.

China's flagship Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a major international push to develop infrastructure across Asia and into central Europe, has been criticised for using government funds to support environmentally unfriendly international coal-fired power plants since its launch in 2013. [...]

It estimated that taking all global financing entities together, including state- and private-owned commercial banks and firms, Chinese capital provided just 17% of the finance for newly added coal power capacity around the world excluding China over the period from 2013 to mid-2019. [...]