COAL POWER FINANCE IN HIGH-IMPACT COUNTRIES

The document analyzes coal finance in 18 high-impact countries (HICs) in South Asia and Africa, highlighting that while global trends shift toward renewables, significant coal investment persists, largely driven by Chinese state-owned institutions. It argues that coal is an inefficient path to universal electricity access compared to distributed renewables and warns of stranded asset risks, citing overcapacity in Bangladesh and Pakistan.

• Between 2013 and 2019, financial institutions based in China provided 40 percent of the total USD 42 billion in finance committed to coal-fired power plants in the 18 analyzed high-impact countries (HICs).
• India is the primary driver of coal capacity expansion among HICs, hosting 87 percent of the total coal generation pipeline currently under active development.
• International public finance has been the dominant source of funding for new coal-fired power plants in HICs since 2013, contrasting with renewable energy projects where nearly 60 percent of finance came from domestic private investors.
• Bangladesh and Pakistan face significant stranded asset risks due to coal plant underutilization; Bangladesh's coal generating capacity utilization was under 30 percent in FY 2018-2019 and FY 2019-2020, while Pakistan's total thermal capacity utilization was 40 percent in FY 2018-2019.
• The governments of Pakistan and Bangladesh have incurred massive costs through capacity payments to idle coal plants, totaling USD 5.3 billion and USD 1.1 billion respectively in 2018.
• Coal development in Sub-Saharan African HICs has a very high failure rate; of 20 GW of planned coal projects, 18.1 GW have been shelved or cancelled, leaving only 1.9 GW under development.
• Chinese coal finance to HICs is partly driven by a desire to export surplus domestic capacity and provide jobs for Chinese workers, often utilizing outdated subcritical technology that is less common in China's own domestic projects.
• Distributed renewable energy is identified as the most efficient path to achieving Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG7) universal access by 2030 because thermal power plants have long development timelines and require costly high-voltage transmission infrastructure.

APA

Sustainable Energy for All (2021). COAL POWER FINANCE IN HIGH-IMPACT COUNTRIES. https://www.seforall.org/system/files/2022-08/EF-Coal_Finance-SEforALL.pdf

Chicago

Sustainable Energy for All. COAL POWER FINANCE IN HIGH-IMPACT COUNTRIES. 2021. https://www.seforall.org/system/files/2022-08/EF-Coal_Finance-SEforALL.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Sustainable Energy for All |title=COAL POWER FINANCE IN HIGH-IMPACT COUNTRIES |date=September 2021 |url=https://www.seforall.org/system/files/2022-08/EF-Coal_Finance-SEforALL.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{sustainableenergyforall2021coal, author = {{Sustainable Energy for All}}, title = {{COAL POWER FINANCE IN HIGH-IMPACT COUNTRIES}}, institution = {Sustainable Energy for All}, year = {2021}, month = sep, url = {https://www.seforall.org/system/files/2022-08/EF-Coal_Finance-SEforALL.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }