China's involvement in coal power projects abroad casts a shadow over its first Belt and Road Forum…Chinese companies are investing heavily in coal power in BRI countries. The fear is that China will help lock developing countries into coal-power assets that will last decades, damage people’s health, and contribute to climate change.

…Global Environment Institute…figures show that between 2001 and 2016 China was involved in 240 coal power projects in BRI countries…The top five countries for Chinese involvement were India, Indonesia, Mongolia, Vietnam and Turkey. The GEI research also found that China’s involvement in coal power projects in BRI countries…has been increasing overall…China’s involvement in overseas coal projects is widely seen as contradicting the country’s promotion of a green energy transition at home, and potentially undermining global action on climate change.

…Liu Qiang, head of the energy research office at the Chinese Academy of Science’s Institute of Technical and Quantitative Economics, says that “there’s no reason to criticise China if a project meets local environmental standards.” But laws and environmental standards in BRI countries receiving Chinese energy investments are often lax, meaning power plants are less likely to keep tight control on emissions...