Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gvvz8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T07:39:22.706Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

THE GLOBALIZATION OF CHINA'S COAL INDUSTRY: THE ROLE OF DEVELOPMENT BANKS

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 November 2021

Bo Kong  and
Kevin P. Gallagher
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article examines the political economy of Chinese overseas development finance for coal fired power plants. In just over a decade China's two major policy banks provide more financing for overseas coal-fired power plant expansion than any other public financier in the world economy. We show how China's overseas surge in public financing for coal fired power plants is a function of a number of domestic push and foreign pull factors. Excess capacity, environmental regulation, and structural change are push factors that converge with rising demand for energy, pockets of coal abundance, and the lack of financing in Western capital markets for coal fired power plants. Fragmentation across the Chinese system and the demand for coal outside China's borders allow for a decline sector on the mainland to become a global Chinese powerhouse.

Keywords

Chinadevelopment financedevelopment studiesenergyclimate change
Type
Article
Information
Journal of East Asian Studies , Volume 21 , Issue 2 , July 2021 , pp. 219 - 235
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the East Asia Institute

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Balassa, Bella. 1965. “Trade Liberalization and ‘Revealed’ Comparative Advantage.” The Manchester School 33 (2): 99–123.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beach, Derek, and Pedersen, Rasmus Brun. 2013. Process-Tracing Methods: Foundations and Guidelines. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chen, Han, Doukas, Alex, Schmidt, Kake, and Vollmer, Sarah Lyn. 2016. Carbon Trap: How International Coal Finance Undermines the Paris Agreement. Washington DC: Natural Resource Defense Council and Oil Change International.Google Scholar
Chen, Linxi, Ding, Ding, and Mano, Rui C.. 2018. “China's Capacity Reduction Reform and Its Impact on Producer Prices.” IMF Working Papers 216: 17. https://doi.org/10.5089/9781484375914.001.A001.Google Scholar
Chen, Shengyong, and Sun, Shiqi. 2013. “Chaneng Guosheng de Zhongguo Tese, Xingcheng Jizhi yu Zhili Duice: Yi 1996 Nian Yilai de Gangtie Hangye Weili 9Excess Capacity with Chinese Characteristics, Its Forming Mechanism, and Counermeasures: A Case Study of China's Steel Industry Since 1996).” Nanjing Shehui Kexue (5):7–14.Google Scholar
Chin, Greogory, and Gallagher, Kevin P.. 2019. “Coorindated Credit Spaces: The Globlizatioin of Chinese Development Finance.” Development and Change 50 (1): 245–274.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development. 2014. Policy Research Report on Environment and Development: Environment and Society for Green Development 2013. Winnipeg: International Institute for Sustainable Development.Google Scholar
China Electricity Council. 2018. http://www.cec.org.cn/guihuayutongji/tongjxinxi/niandushuju/2018-03-21/178791.html. Accessed June 19, 2019.Google Scholar
Fan, Rui. 2015. “China's Excess Capacity: Drivers and Implications.” https://api.open-ressources.fr/files/aHR0cHM6Ly9hcGkuem90ZXJvLm9yZy9ncm91cHMvMzM2MTk3L2l0ZW1zL1JOQkFVSEU2L2ZpbGUvdmlldw==/YXBwbGljYXRpb24vcGRm. Accessed October 22, 2018.Google Scholar
Feng, Yu, Wang, Shaojie, Sha, Yun, Ding, Quanzheng, Yuan, Jiahai, and Guo, Xiaopeng. 2018. “Coal Power Overcapacity in China: Province-Level Estimates and Policy Implications.” Resources, Conservation & Recycling (137): 89–100.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gallagher, Kelly Sims, and Qi, Qi. 2018. Policies Governing China's Overseas Development Finance Implications for Climate Change. Boston, MA: The Fletcher School Center for International Environment and Resource Policy.Google Scholar
Gallagher, Kelly Sims, Bhandary, Rishikesh, Narassimhan, Easwaran, and Nguyen, Quy Tam. 2021. Banking on Coal? “Drivers of Demand for Chinese Overseas Investments in Coal-Fired Power in Bangladesh, India, Indonesia and Vietnam.” Energy Research in Social Science 71. doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2020.101827.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gallagher, Kevin P. 2018. China's Global Energy Finance. Boston: Boston University Global Development Policy Center.Google Scholar
Gallagher, Kevin P. 2019. China's Global Energy Finance. Boston: Boston University Global Development Policy Center.Google Scholar
Gallagher, Kevin P., Kamal, Rohini, Jin, Junda, Chen, Yanning, and Ma, Xinyue. 2018. “Energizing Development Finance? The Benefits and Risks of China's Development Finance in the Global Energy Sector.” Energy Policy 122: 313–321.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Global Coal Plant Tracker. 2019. New Coal Plants By Country, 2006–2018 (MW). ENDCOAL.ORG.Google Scholar
Hajer, Maarten. 1995. The Politics of Environmental Discourse: Ecological Modernization and the Policy Process. London: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
He, Yafei. 2014. China's Overcapacity Crisis Spurs Growth through Overseas Expansion. https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1399681/chinas-overcapacity-crisis-can-spur-growth-through-overseas. Accessed November 9, 2018.Google Scholar
He, Zuoxiu, and Wang, Yinan. 2004. “2000–2020, Woguo Zhenneng Shixian GDP Fan Liangfan er Nengyuan Jin Fan Yifan Ma de Shexiang Ma? (Can China Realize the Vision for Quadrupling the GDP While Only Doubling Energy Consumption in 2000–2020?).” Kexue Dui Shehui de Yinxiang (4): 19–27.Google Scholar
Hervé-Mignucci, Morgan, and Wang, Xueying. 2015. Slowing the Growth of Coal Power Outside China: The Role of Chinese Finance. San Francisco: Climate Policy Initiative, November 25. www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/publication/slowing-the-growth-of-coal-power-outside-china-the-role-of-chinese-finance/. Accessed August 16, 2021.Google Scholar
Kong, Bo. 2005. An Anatomy of China's Energy Insecurity and Its Strategies. Seattle, Washington: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
National Bureau of Statistics of China. 2018. China Statistical Yearbook 2017. Beijing: China Statistics Press.Google Scholar
National Development and Reform Commission. 2007. China's National Climate Change Programme. Beijing: National Development and Reform Commission.Google Scholar
National Energy Administration. 2016. The 13th Five-Year Plan for Power Sector Development. www.gov.cn/xinwen/2016-12/22/5151549/files/696e98c57ecd49c289968ae2d77ed583.pdf. Accessed April 2, 2020.Google Scholar
Norris, William J. 2016. Chinese Economic Statecraft: Commercial Actors, Grand Strategy, and State Control. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Piccio, Lorenzo. 2016. “Coal or No Coal: A Balancing Act for MDBs.” devex, January 18. www.devex.com/news/coal-or-no-coal-a-balancing-act-for-mdbs-87610. Accessed November 20, 2019.Google Scholar
Platts. 2020. World Electric Power Plants Database. spglobal.com: S&P Global Patts.Google Scholar
Rooiji, Benjamin van, Zhu, Qiaoqiao, Na, Li, and Qiliang, Wang. 2017. “Centralzing Trends and Pollution Law Enforcement in China.” The China Quarterly (231):583–606.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Steffen, Bjarne, and Schmidt, Tobias. 2018. “A Quantitative Analysis of 10 Multilateral Development Banks’ Investment in Conventional and Renewable Power-Generation Technologies from 2006 to 2015.” Nature Energy 4 (1): 75–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stern, Maria. 2006. “Racisim, Sexism, Classism, and Much More: Reading Security-Identity in Marginalized Sites.” In Feminist Methodologies for International Relations, edited by Ackerly, Brooke A., Stern, Maria and True, Jacqui. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
The State Council of People's Republic of China. 2007. Guowuyuan Guanyu Chengli Yingdui Qihou Bianhua ji Jieneng Jianpai Lindao Xiaozu de Tongzhi [Notice of the State Council on the Establishment of the National Leading Group on Climate Change and the National Leading Group on Energy Conservation and Emissions Reduction]. Edited by The General Office of The State Council. Beijing. www.ccchina.org.cn/Detail.aspx?newsId=28014&TId=60. Accessed April 3, 2020.Google Scholar
Wong, Christine, and Karplus, Valerie J.. 2017. “China's War on Air Pollution: Can Existing Governance Structures Support New Ambitions?” The China Quarterly (231):662–684.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bank, World. 2018. World Bank Development Indicators. Washington DC: World Bank. https://datatopics.worldbank.org/world-development-indicators/.Google Scholar
Wu, Shellen Xiao. 2015. Empires of Coal: Fueling China's Entry Into the Modern World Order, 1860–1920. Stanford: Stanford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jinping, Xi. 2017. “Secure a Decisive Victory in Building a Moderately Prosperous Society in All Respects and Strive for the Great Success of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era.” Xinhua, Last Modified November 3, 2017. www.xinhuanet.com/english/download/Xi_Jinping's_report_at_19th_CPC_National_Congress.pdf. Accessed March 30, 2020Google Scholar
Yang, Guangbin. 2014. “Decentralization and Central-Local Relations in Reform-Era China.” In China's Political DevelopmentL Chinese and American Perspectives, edited by Lieberthal, Kenneth G., Li, Cheng and Yu, Keping. Washington DC: Brookings Institution Press.Google Scholar
Yang, Qing, Hou, Xiaochao, and Zhang, Lei. 2018. “Measurement of Natural and Cyclical Excess Capacity in China's Coal Industry.” Energy Policy (118): 270–278.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zhang, Xuehua. 2017. “Implementation of Pollution Control Targets in China: Has A Centralized Enforcement Approach Worked?” The China Quarterly (231):749–774.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zhang, Yanfang, Zhang, Ming, Liu, Yue, and Nui nIE. 2017. “Enterprise Investment, Local Government Intervention and Coal Capacity: The Case of China.” Energy Policy (101): 162–169.CrossRefGoogle Scholar