Chinese president, Xi Jinping, said on Tuesday that China will stop funding coal projects overseas, ending a major source of support for dirty energy contributing to climate change.

Xi Addressed the UN General Assembly and made the promise vowing to accelerate efforts aimed at helping the world battle the climate crisis.

"China will step up support for other developing countries in developing green and low carbon energy and will not build new coal-fired power projects abroad," Xi announced in a pre-recorded address.

The Chinese president added that: "We should foster new growth drivers in the post-Covid era and jointly achieve leapfrog development, staying committed to harmony between man and nature." 

China will go carbon-neutral in 2060

China has gone on an infrastructure-building blitz around the world as part of its Belt and Road Initiative, and until now has been open to coal projects.

China has promised to peak coal consumption by 2030 and go carbon neutral by 2060.

China's promise comes as momentum builds for a UN conference in November in Glasgow which aims to raise the ambitions of the Paris accord.