The Bank of China said it will no longer finance new coal mining and coal-based power projects aboard from October this year, following President Xi Jinping's  announcement that China would stop funding overseas coal-fired power plants in the United Nations General Assembly on September 21.

The bank said it lately has drawn up an action plan to help the country's green transition target of peaking carbon emissions by 2030 and being neutral by 2060.

The action plan draws a detailed roadmap for the bank's contributions to the country's green transition through 15 aspects including organizational structure, business development strategy, product innovation, green operation, stress testing, international cooperation, capacity building, and technology empowerment.

The bank said it plans to provide no less than 1 trillion yuan ($154.7 billion) to green industries and raise the share of green credit year by year during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-25). "By 2025, the proportion of green loans in the total domestic public loans will increase by 5-10 percentage points from the end of 13th Five-Year Plan period," the plan said.

It will also reduce lending to high-energy consumption and high-emission industries while promising to raise the credit support for green technologies, such as for emission reduction and clean utilization of fossil fuels.

By end-June, the bank's domestic green credit balance exceeded 1 trillion yuan, an increase of more than 15% compared with the beginning of 2021.

China's investment in overseas coal-fired power projects has dropped sharply in recent years and it did not finance or invest in any coal projects in Belt and Road Initiative countries in the first half of 2021.

Some state-owned and commercial banks have also expressed willingness to phase down or end support for overseas coal projects.

(Writing by Alex Guo  Editing by Harry Huo)
For any questions, please contact us by inquiry@fwenergy.com or +86-351-7219322.

Share this article

Connect with us