Overview

Coal project finance is increasingly concentrated among a shrinking pool of financiers and regions, revealing persistent capital flows that sustain new coal despite global phaseout commitments. 

Coal project finance has contracted substantially since the mid-2010s, driven by policy restrictions, net-zero commitments, and tightening public finance standards. Most OECD export credit agencies, multilateral development banks, and large commercial banks have exited direct support for new coal power, contributing to a sharp decline in the number and total value of deals reaching financial close. However, the data also demonstrate that coal finance has not disappeared — it has consolidated geographically and institutionally.

Financing activity is now heavily concentrated in a small group of countries, primarily in Asia, where coal remains embedded in power planning and industrial policy. Domestic policy banks, state-owned commercial banks, and vertically-integrated utilities account for the majority of recent transactions, often financing projects on balance sheets or through limited syndicates. This shift from large, multi-lender international project finance structures to more localized and state-linked funding complicates external leverage points for advocacy and increases the importance of national policy frameworks.

Deal structures have also changed. Projects increasingly rely on corporate lending, internal utility financing, or state-directed credit rather than internationally syndicated project finance. This reduces transparency and weakens the effectiveness of global financial sector coal exclusion policies, which are typically designed around project finance. At the same time, a pipeline of proposed coal plants continues to seek funding, indicating a persistent risk of new financial close events, particularly where capacity mechanisms, regulated tariffs, or public guarantees may artificially bolster project bankability.

These trends are misaligned with climate targets that require a rapid phaseout of unabated coal power and a halt to new construction. The tracker’s asset-level linkage of projects to specific financiers, sponsors, and policy environments provides a basis for identifying remaining capital providers, understanding enabling policy conditions, and targeting interventions where financial flows to coal are still material.
 

Methodology

The Global Coal Project Finance Tracker (GCPFT) provides financial data for the Global Coal Plant Tracker, which includes operating and proposed coal plants worldwide. Power plants for which financing information is not available are not shown on the map.

This database covers financial transactions from 2010 to the present. It 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.

The project gathered data from media coverage of financial deals for coal-fired power stations, government and NGO reports, and financial databases, including IJGlobal, Oil Change International’s Shift the Subsidies Database, the Boston University Global Economic Governance Initiative on China’s Global Energy Finance. Wherever possible, the information in the tracker has been verified by researchers familiar with particular countries, including consultation with Solutions For Our Climate (SFOC), Market Forces, and the Japan Center for a Sustainable Environment and Society (JACSES).

Frequently Asked Questions