EDITORIAL: China's pledge to end public financing of overseas coal-fired power plants comes as a shot in the arm of climate control efforts. And it could not have picked a more opportune time for the announcement; just as the world was preparing for the COP26 UN climate change summit due in November. Beijing was, of course, under a lot of pressure to move away from coal, especially since it became the world's second-biggest economy just a few years ago, and that pressure amplified when countries close to home, like Japan and South Korea, also embraced green energy and dumped the 'poison energy' of coal. This is the kind of news that makes everybody happy, even western capitals that are not used to welcoming anything coming out of Beijing.
Still, it's not as if this news would not have raised any concern whatsoever anywhere at all. Pakistan is among countries where the Chinese have already invested in coal-based power plants, even as part of CPEC (China Pakistan Economic Corridor), and there's been no announcement yet about the fate of such projects. Some are ongoing and some are planned for the future. One would assume, though without the benefit of any definite information from China that they would be inclined to complete the projects that are already underway and renegotiate the ones that are to follow. The sooner such details are worked out the better because a lot of time, money and energy go into preparing projects.
Pakistan would have to redo some of the planning as a result of China's decision, but it's not really in a position to complain too much. Prime Minister Imran Khan has made climate change a big part of his agenda; and has placed it ahead of matters like Kashmir and Afghanistan during his speeches at the UN (United Nations). He's also pledged to phase out coal by 2030 and shift to greener ways of producing energy. Pakistan is ranked high among countries that suffer the most from climate change, even though its own contribution to it is negligible. But that only means that we must speed up our conversion to coal-free energy and if the Chinese push makes us rush towards our own deadlines, then all the better.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021
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