Workers install rooftop solar panels in Shanghai, China. Credit: Jiri Rezac, The Climate Group, Creative Commons
China manufactures most of the world’s solar panels, and its state policy banks are among the largest financiers of energy projects in the world, particularly along the Belt and Road, Beijing’s global infrastructure project. But new data that tracks lending for overseas energy projects from China’s two leading policy banks, the China Development Bank (CDB) and Export–Import Bank of China (China Exim Bank), shows that just a tiny proportion is directed towards solar energy, which analysts say could make it difficult for the world to meet the renewable energy targets set by the Paris Climate Accord.
The findings are significant, analysts say, because China’s policy banks have surpassed the World Bank to become the leading financiers of global power generation projects, giving them outsized influence on whether nations choose to build solar, wind or coal projects.
And while solar projects have gained substantially in the past decade, they lag far behind traditional sources
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