Air pollution levels in Beijing and other major Chinese cities have been making headlines, when millions of people were confined to their homes for several days to avoid the most drastic impacts on their health. For the longest time now the world believed that China would forever continue to build its infamous ’one new coal-fired power station per week’. China, however, is starting to rethink its course on coal: In September 2013 the Chinese government announced a cap on coal consumption in three economically important provinces.

Coal is the single greatest source of carbon emissions endangering our climate. Yet never before has so much coal been mined on the planet as today. Since 2000, global coal production has grown by 70% and has now reached a staggering 7.9 billion tons annually. And what's more, the industry is still expanding. Who on earth is financing the enormous production increases of the world's dirtiest fossil fuel? 'Banking on Coal' answers this question with a focus on commercial banks.

Based on analysis of Partnership Agreements and experiences of 'partnership' in current programming, participants are regrettably forming the view that Member States’ current planning of Regional Development funding for the period 2014 -2020 fails to acknowledge that Europe’s current ecological footprint lays way beyond the planet’s carrying capacity and, as a consequence, that economic and regional development – fostered by the EU funds – has to transform production and consumption patterns to a sustainable level that does not over-exploit natural resources.