Xiaolian: Supporting the financing needs of green development in countries along the "Belt and Road"

9 March 2022

In the context of the "dual carbon" goal, China announced last year that it would no longer build overseas coal power projects.

Hu Xiaolian, member of the Standing Committee of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and chairman of the Export-Import Bank of China, said in an interview with a reporter from China News Agency in Beijing that the Export-Import Bank of China no longer provides financing support for new overseas coal power projects, but for overseas coal power projects that have been completed, if these projects require energy-saving and carbon-saving technology transformation and upgrading, the Export-Import Bank of China will communicate with the countries where the projects are located to meet their needs for upgrading and emission reduction.

At present, the global carbon emission reduction time is tight and the task is heavy. In her view, China's announcement that it will no longer build new overseas coal power projects is closely related to China's "dual carbon" goal. Strive to go further.

While China announced that it will no longer build new overseas coal power projects, the outside world is also worried about whether this will affect the construction of projects in countries along the "Belt and Road". In this regard, she emphasized that for the energy and transportation projects urgently needed by countries along the "Belt and Road", on the basis of scientific evaluation, the construction of infrastructure projects will be better done to support the economic and social development of the jointly built countries.

She said that although China will no longer build new overseas coal power projects, it will continue to increase its support for green projects such as clean energy and ecological environmental protection in the future, and pay more attention to the construction of "small but beautiful" projects that benefit people's livelihood. China will also provide corresponding loans and other support for the financing needs of the host country's green development.

According to statistics from relevant foreign think tanks, in recent years, China, Japan, and South Korea have been the main financiers and builders of overseas coal power projects around the world. However, with the global carbon reduction task on the agenda, all three countries have announced to stop financing overseas coal energy projects.