Map
What do the circles mean?
Orange circles indicate that a country has financial institutions that have provided funding for coal-fired power. Blue circles indicate that a country has coal-fired power stations that have received funding, either domestic or international. The size of the circles indicates the amount of support provided, measured in either plant capacity (megawatts) or amount funded (US dollars).
What do the lines mean?
Lines show the relationship between the country in which financial institutions are based (marked in orange) and the country where the plant will be built (marked in blue).
How do I view a list of institutions from a specific country that have financed coal power?
To view a list of all institutions in a country that have funded coal-fired power stations, first select a source country, either by clicking an orange circle or by searching for it using the search bar. Then, a list of financiers will appear in the left pane. You can click on a specific institution to see all of the projects it has funded.
How do I view a list of the power stations within a specific country that have received financing?
To view a list of the power stations within a country for which financing information is available, first select a recipient country, either by clicking a blue circle on the map or by searching for it using the search bar. The power stations will appear as smaller blue circles on the map, and a list will display in the left pane. Clicking a specific power station, either on the map or on the list, will show more detailed information for that power station.
Some countries only show circles of one color – how do I view the country’s source/recipient information?
If you cannot distinguish source and recipient financing for a country and want to do so, you can either click on the country name in the table on the left, or type the country name in the search bar at the top of the page to isolate the data.
What does the Financing closed/Financing ongoing tab do?
“Financing closed” shows projects that have already been financed, “Financing ongoing” shows upcoming projects with proposed financing. A project is considered to have reached financial close if a loan agreement has been signed and funds are available for withdrawal. Otherwise, the transaction is marked “financing ongoing.” The map does not display information on proposed financing deals that have subsequently been stopped.
What does the Financing Institution tab do?
This tab allows you to filter the data by the type of institution that has provided funding for a coal-fired power station. Governmental or policy institutions are either government entities or government-controlled entities with explicit policy objectives, such as multilateral development banks. Government-owned commercial institutions are majority (50%+) owned by governments, but operate as commercial businesses. These types of institutions are commonly called state-owned enterprises. Privately-owned commercial institutions are owned by private individuals, such as large private stakeholders or through public stock holdings.
What does the Finance Destination tab do?
This tab allows you to filter the data by the source and recipient country. If an entity based in a country finances coal-fired power within that same country, the financing is considered domestic. Financing that flows from one country to another is considered international.
What does “TBD” mean?
For projects in which the country providing the financing is confirmed but the specific financing institution is not, the financing institution is listed as “To Be Determined” and the institution type is listed as “Unknown”.
What does “Unknown” mean?
In some rare instances, financial amounts for power projects are disclosed, but the specific institutions providing funding are not named. In these cases, country and institution type are marked “Unknown” and the institution type is also listed as “Unknown”.
Where can I find more information about the power stations and financial deals shown on the map?
All of the coal plant and financing information on the map is described and cited on GEM.wiki. To view a specific power station’s wiki page, first select the power station either on the map or using the search bar, and then click the blue hyperlink shown in the left pane, under Units. You can also download the full database underpinning the map by clicking the “Download Data” option on the GCPFT landing page.
How do I view a different country?
Type the name of the country in the search bar or click on the circle within the country on the map. After choosing a country, click “Back” in the top left hand column to return to the previous view.
How accurate are locations?
Locations are exact for the majority of projects. Proposed coal plants that do not have an exact project site will have approximate locations. You can check the underlying GEM.wiki page to see the accuracy of the coordinates for an individual project.
Coverage
Does the tracker show all the plants in each country?
No, the tracker only shows plants for which information on project financing (specifically, equity or debt financing) is available. The tracker only includes funding specifically earmarked for coal-fired power projects; it does not include general corporate financing, such as loans given to companies operating in the coal-fired power sector. The database also excludes funding for Chinese coal-fired power stations due to unavailability of public information.
Improving the Tracker
What if I find an error or a missing project?
Please use the contact form to let us know about any errors or omissions.
Credits
Who built this tool?
The tracker was designed and produced by Global Energy Monitor. To the greatest extent possible, the information in the tracker has been verified by researchers familiar with particular countries.
Web/GIS programming was done by Tom Allnutt and Tim Sinnott (GreenInfo Network).
How do I cite the data?
Please cite the data as “Global Coal Project Finance Tracker, Global Energy Monitor, August 2022 release.”