China pledges to stop funding coal-fired power projects abroad
The announcement comes at a time when nations around the world are trying to reduce their carbon emissions and meet the goals of the 2015 Paris climate agreement.
CAPE TOWN, September 22 (ANA) – Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday announced at the United Nations General Assembly that his country would stop funding for the building of new coal-fired power projects abroad.
China has previously funded coal projects in a number of developing countries such as Bangladesh, Vietnam and Indonesia through its Belt and Road Initiative.
Xi’s announcement comes at a time when nations around the world are trying to reduce their carbon emissions and meet the goals of the 2015 Paris climate agreement.
Xi Jinping said China would also step up the development of green low-carbon energy to support developing countries.
“China will strive to peak carbon dioxide emissions before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality before 2060,” said Xi.
“This requires tremendous hard work, and we will make every effort to meet these goals.”
According to Al Jazeera, China is the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases and climate campaigners has welcomed its pledge.
Earlier this month, United States climate envoy John Kerry visited the Chinese city of Tianjin to meet with officials and map out a way the two countries can cooperate in combating the crisis, as both nations have a critical role to play in the fight against climate change.
Meanwhile, Xi said China also aimed to provide a total of 2 billion Covid-19 doses of Covid-19 vaccines to the world by the end of this year in addition to donating US$100 million towards COVAX, a worldwide initiative aimed at equitable access to drugs driven by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, and the World Health Organization.
“We want to ensure that fair and equitable distribution of vaccines … China will also donate 100 million doses to other developing countries in the course of this year,” Xi said.
– African News Agency (ANA), Editing by Stella Mapenzauswa
