China slow to curb coal financing as Japan, South Korea ‘accept new reality’ on phasing out fossil fuels

(South China Morning Post, Hong Kong, 15 August 2020) China risks being left behind as South Korea and Japan signal a shift away from financing overseas coal power in response to growing criticism over their support for the dirty fossil fuel. The three countries are the top global lenders for coal energy infrastructure, bankrolling projects beyond their borders through export credit agencies and developing new markets to export coal plant technology. But there are signs that Japan and South Korea may be preparing to scale back official support amid mounting pressure from the public and investors on environmental grounds. Environmental campaigners hope the moves by Japan and South Korea will put pressure on China, but whether the world’s largest financier of coal energy will take similar steps remains to be seen. China has an outsize impact on development financing for coal. From 2000-2019, its two global policy banks – the China Development Bank and the Export-Import Bank of China – issued loans totalling US$51.8 billion for coal energy projects around the world, according to the Global Development Policy Centre at Boston University. In comparison Japan spent US$26 billion financing 36 overseas coal-fired power plants between January 2003 and April 2019 and South Korean public financial institutions, meanwhile, supported 24 overseas coal projects with US$10 billion from 2008 to 2018.