"Chinese president Xi Jinping has pledged to end the country’s financing of overseas coal projects — but a surge in Chinese-backed coal-fired power plants to supply electricity to nickel mining and processing undermines that pledge."

"A surge in the supply of Chinese-backed coal-fired power plants built to supply electricity to Indonesia’s fast-growing nickel mining and processing sector is undermining Beijing’s efforts to dial back support for fossil fuels, a study released Nov. 3 has found.

In his speech to the U.N. General Assembly four years ago, China’s president, Xi Jinping, pledged to end his country’s official financing of overseas coal projects — usually for power plants to supply electricity to tariff-paying customers.

In response, new projects backed by Chinese government entities and state-owned companies have shrunk by more than a third worldwide, according to a report released Monday that was co-authored by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air and People of Asia for Climate Solutions.

Indonesia’s capacity of newly installed coal-fired power plants nearly tripled to more than 7 gigawatts the year following Xi’s announcement, as work wrapped up on projects already in the pipeline before tapering off.

Still, Chinese-backed coal-fired generating capacity is going online."

Jeff Hutton reports for Mongabay November 10, 2025. [2]