BEIJING • Over half of Chinese-backed coal-fired power plant projects overseas have been shelved or cancelled over the past six years, underscoring the rising forces against coal investments globally.

Of the 52 projects with Chinese financing announced between mid-2014 and the end of last year, 25 were shelved and eight cancelled, according to a research paper published yesterday by the Beijing-based International Institute of Green Finance think-tank.

Only one project - a power station in Kalapara, Bangladesh - has gone into operation, a sign that financing costs and risks related to coal projects have surged, while clean energy like solar power has became cheaper to produce, the paper said.

"The move away from Chinese-backed coal-fired power plants has accelerated," said the paper's author Christoph Nedopil, who is director of the institute's Green Belt and Road Initiative Centre.

The changes can "accelerate a sustained green energy transition" in the countries involved in China's Belt and Road Initiative, where most of the projects are located, he added.

Activists have been urging an end to the financing of coal projects globally since the burning of the fuel is the single largest source of mankind's carbon dioxide emissions.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has urged countries to stop investing in coal.

China is facing rising scrutiny over its energy investments overseas, with the latest criticism coming in Bangladesh, where a Chinese-backed coal plant project is accused of failing to ensure proper green inspections.

The combined value of cancelled or shelved coal projects in the six-year period was over US$65 billion (S$86.2 billion), the paper said, surging to US$25 billion last year from about US$2 billion in 2015.

BLOOMBERG