EAST ASIA — China, Japan and South Korea are expanding coal plants in developing nations despite mounting evidence that the climate continues to get worse.<br /><br />A new report published by coal tracking company CoalSwarm shows that these three countries continue to fund coal plant construction in other nations such as Indonesia, Vietnam, South Africa and Bangladesh. <br /><br />China, Japan and South Korea are doing this despite transitioning to renewable energy sources at home, reports CleanTechnica. <br /><br />Ted Nace, Executive Director of CoalSwarm, told CleanTechnica that they build coal plants overseas to "protect their equipment manufacturers.<br /><br />The report shows China has already funded at least 26 gigawatts of coal plants, which is equivalent to roughly 43 coal power plants.<br /><br />Japan has financed around 20 gigawatts which is around 32 plants. <br /><br />While South Korea has funded at least 8 gigawatts which is around 11 coal power plants.<br /><br />China is projected to increase the financing of coal plants to 43 gigawatts, an increase of approximately 28 plants.<br /><br />South Korea is also set to increase funding to 14 gigawatts, which is an increase of around 23 plants.<br /><br />Meanwhile, Japan is actually projected to decrease funding by around 10 gigawatts.
