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Opinion
David Fickling

Coal’s Belt and Road Links Are Crumbling

In Pakistan, abundant renewables and falling prices are raising doubts about whether Chinese fossil-power projects make sense. 

Cough, cough.

Cough, cough.

Photographer: Asim Hafeez/Bloomberg

When a giant infrastructure project in an emerging country doesn’t make sense these days, you can usually count on China’s Belt and Road to be on hand with a bailout check.

For the global coal industry, that prospect has been one of the last great hopes for demand growth. Chinese policy banks have committed some $45 billion to coal projects overseas since 2000, according to a Boston University database.