China publicly demands the USA fulfill Obama's Paris Agreement pledges, and makes a big deal of their conversion to green energy. However, behind the scenes the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative is starting to look like a gigantic coal plant construction exercise. 1
China is the world's largest producer and user of coal. It's helping to pay for and build power plants in at least a dozen countries, and though many are solar, wind, natural gas, and hydro projects, the bulk of the Chinese investment is in coal. This doesn't bode well for the 2016 Paris Agreement on climate change in which almost 200 nations, including China pledged to take steps to limit the increase in global average temperature to well below 2 C. 2