China Belt and Road power investments surge says Greenpeace research

SOLAR, wind and coal power Chinese Belt and Road investments have surged from 2014 to 2019, with planned capacity up more than tenfold compared to the previous five-year period, according to research from the environmental group Greenpeace.

Reuters reports China's wind and solar power investments in Belt and Road countries amounted to 12.6 gig watts (GW) since the initiative was launched in 2014. It had invested in just 0.45 GW of solar prior to 2014.



China has also invested in 67.9 gig watts of new coal-fired power in Belt and Road countries since 2014, but Green peace climate and energy campaigner Liu Junyan said the increase in the share of renewables should be welcomed.



'Chinese investors' ratio of coal to solar is now the same at home and abroad - both are still six-to-one (in favour of) coal, unfortunately, but I'm amazed to see what five years of equity investment in solar made possible,' Mr Liu said.



China has been criticised for funding coal-fired power projects overseas that would not meet its own emissions standards, with a study published earlier this year saying it is supporting more than a quarter of all new coal-fired plants worldwide.


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