A year ago, President Barack Obama sought to mobilize the United States behind a grand plan: fight climate change by slashing carbon pollution at home, while prodding other countries to follow.
A key part of that strategy was for the nation to stop using public money to finance the construction of most coal-fired power plants abroad, seen as one of the main causes of rising pollution from heat-trapping gases.
But a year later, momentum has stalled on the Obama administration's plan for a global "domino effect" that would choke off financing for coal projects from public lending institutions around the world. Some key lenders continue to finance coal projects, and the Export-Import Bank of the United States has put its ban on hold.