China's pledge to stop building new coal power plants overseas welcomed: AIIB

BEIJING, Sept. 23 (Xinhua) -- The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) has said that it welcomes China's announcement to increase support for green and low-carbon energy in other developing countries and stop building new coal-fired projects overseas.

"This is a bold and consequential step for China, and for the rest of the world. It is also a clear signal of the country's concrete commitment to global efforts to address one of the most pressing issues of our time," said Jin Liqun, president of the AIIB.

Jin said that the international community must continue to work together to agree on a clear pathway to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement with a sense of urgency.

"AIIB is committed to working with China and all of our members in their efforts to implement their Paris commitments to put our world on a path to a sustainable future," he said.

The bank has set a target to invest half of its annual direct financing into projects linked to climate change mitigation by 2025. In 2020, 41 percent of the bank's total financing went to climate finance, the bank said.