At the 2021 United Nations General Assembly, China’s President Xi committed to halting financing and construction of new coal-fired power plants overseas...

As of August 2023, some 36 gigawatts (GW) overall of coal project capacity has now been cancelled, avoiding 4.1 billion tonnes of carbon emissions, demonstrating the potential impact of China’s pledge when implemented...

Although progress has been made in cancelling and shelving coal projects, the number of operational coal plants financed by China has increased...

A year after the announcement, in 2022, 7.6 GW capacity of China-backed plants were in operation. As of August 2023, this number increased to 18.1 GW...Another 7.2 GW of China-backed capacity has been pushed on or revived from being cancelled or shelved in the last two years...Captive plants remain a grey area, totalling 3.1 GW at the end of August 2023.