China Exim’s energy lending nosedives, Beijing weighs ban on foreign coal financing

(Global Trade Review, London, 3 March 2021) Overseas energy financing from Chinese policy banks plummeted last year in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, a new report says, as pressure builds on Beijing to drop its zest for coal projects in developing countries. According to data from Boston University’s Global Development Policy Center (GDPC), funding from the China Development Bank (CDB) and the Export-Import Bank of China (Cexim) plunged by roughly 43% in 2020. Having funded around US$8.1bn in loans for energy projects in developing countries in 2019, the pair’s outlay tightened to US$4.6bn last year. More than half of the two banks’ combined overseas energy funding went to a single project in Nigeria, with Cexim providing a US$2.5bn loan to the Ajaokuta, Kaduna, Kano (AKK) gas pipeline project in Nigeria. The total figure was comprised of eight loans to countries across Africa and Asia, as well as one deal for a coal-powered district heating system in Serbia. A host of countries which have previously received sizeable loans from the CDB and Cexim, including Pakistan and Zambia, were forced to apply for debt relief from China in the wake of the devastating effects of Covid-19. Pressure has been growing internationally for export credit agencies (ECAs) such as Cexim to withdraw support for coal-fired power plants, and there are suggestions that Beijing could seek to ban development financing for overseas coal projects. UK Export Finance (UKEF) announced in December that it would end support for fossil fuel projects, joining the likes of France and Sweden in ruling out backing for deals in the oil, gas and coal space. Last year, the Japanese government said it would tighten lending criteria for export credit support for coal-fired power plants. Critics have, however, condemned “loopholes” in Japan’s commitment, noting that the country is still open to funding overseas coal plants that use highly efficient technology, or any project it has already agreed to back. A report from US-based research organisation Oil Change International has previously shown that when it comes to providing export credits for fossil fuels, Japan is the main offender – with China in second place. one example of the steps being taken by the Chinese government, in December, the environment ministry backed a green guidance paper suggesting that the most polluting BRI projects should be put on a negative list. In 2020, the commodity was still very much on the agenda, with the pair providing a combined US$474mn to two coal projects in Pakistan and Serbia.