Has China quit overseas coal financing?
“China did not fund any overseas coal projects in the first half of 2021, the International Institute of Green Finance said. This marks a milestone in the greening of China’s Belt and Road Initiative, which since its inception in 2013 had included generous funding of coal every year.”
“Last month, China’s largest commercial bank, ICBC, announced that it would begin to phase out coal project financing. Two weeks later, it pulled out of a major $3 billion coal power plant project in Zimbabwe.”
Lucas Niewenhuis, SupChina, Published July 27, 2021
The report makes no mention of plans to replace the power plant that would have provided affordable energy to tens of thousands of Zimbabweans, and reliable power for commercial and industrial development in that country. There is no evidence that the champions of green energy have made plans for the new generating capacity that is needed to raise the per capita energy supply in Africa to levels needed to eliminate absolute poverty. According to 2017 World Bank data, the average Zimbabwean consumed 763 kg of oil-equivalent energy in 2017; the average for China was over twice that amount (1,695kg), and for the US almost ten times as much (7,051kg).
The ABCF mission is to build a deeper understanding between the Chinese people and Barbadians and Caribbean people from all walks of life. The association’s focus is on personal experiences, people-to-people contact, cultural exchanges and exchanges of ideas, and the facilitation of travel, business and study. From the outset we aim to learn from and build on the experiences of the Caribbean and China, and to develop mutual understandings and support that will be to the benefit of both sides.
