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How finance from rich nations could drive 40% of new coal plant emissions
(CarbonBrief, 14 Apr 2021) Coal use needs to rapidly fall this decade if the world has any chance of achieving the 1.5C temperature target of the Paris Agreement, yet new coal power plants are still being built.
Severe criticism is often levelled at Asian nations where the vast majority of coal power construction is taking place, while coal use declines in Europe and North America.
However, our new study – published in Environmental Research Letters – finds that a different picture emerges when emissions are based on who has financed coal plants rather than who is building them.
Funding for coal projects has often come from banks and investors in wealthy European nations and the US.
Based on financial inputs from overseas, we find that 40% of “committed emissions” from a sample of coal plants that have been built or proposed since 2015 could be attributed to these nations – with most of the remainder coming from Chinese banks.
These insights can help governments create policies to curb financial support for coal plants abroad and heed the Paris Agreement’s call to make “finance flows consistent with a pathway towards low greenhouse gas emissions and climate-resilient development”.
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CarbonBrief, 14 Apr 2021: How finance from rich nations could drive 40% of new coal plant emissions
