As the planet lurches toward catastrophic levels of warming, China’s biggest banks have been ratcheting up their financing of the dirtiest fossil fuel of all: coal. Chinese lenders have helped coal companies raise about $10 billion selling bonds so far this year, data compiled by Bloomberg show. That’s more than double the $3.8 billion raised in the same period of 2021 and marks one of the busiest starts to a year since the Paris climate accord was struck in 2015. While HSBC Holdings Plc and other global banks have said they’ll no longer finance new coal plants, China continues to expand existing projects, part of a campaign to increase domestic supply and curb imports. China has about 260 gigawatts of coal power planned or under construction , more than the rest of the G-20 combined, according to BloombergNEF data. Domestic banks are helping finance that expansion. So far this […]