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China’s pledge on overseas coal — by the numbers

China’s promise to stop financing coal power abroad is a positive step, but researchers say the emissions savings pale in comparison to those from its domestic coal use.
  1. Quirin Schiermeier
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China’s pledge to stop financing new coal plants abroad, announced by President Xi Jinping at the United Nations summit last week, has raised hopes that the world could soon wean itself off the most carbon-intensive fossil fuel. But although this is a positive step from the world’s biggest emitter of carbon emissions, researchers say that China is a long way from phasing out its massive domestic use of coal.

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Nature 598, 20-21 (2021)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-02645-w

Updates & Corrections

  • Update 29 September 2021: This story now includes when and how China made its pledge on financing coal plants abroad.

  • Clarification 29 September 2021: The graphic ‘Coal-power financiers and recipients’ has been updated to make clear that the list includes only public coal financiers.

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