The switch will be part of the company's efforts to 'decarbonise' in line with Paris Agreement climate commitments, CLP said in a statement. In a separate report, it said 20% of its revenue currently comes from coal-based power generation.

"We are evolving our business model to further explore low-carbon investment opportunities in transmission and distribution, electric vehicle charging, decentralised generation and smart energy services," chief executive Richard Lancaster said in the statement.

As of December, last year, CLP Group had 11,997 megawatts of coal-fired equity generation capacity, a spokesman from the company told Reuters. CLP Holdings is the holding company for CLP Group.

The spokesman added that for CLP, phasing out coal-fired generation capacity will mean retirement and closure of coal-fired power assets, moving away from build-operate-transfer coal-fired projects before the end of the contract term, or divestment from a coal-fired asset.

Following the ratification of the Paris Agreement, CLP in 2017 undertook a comprehensive review of its Climate Vision 2050 targets, committing to an 80% reduction in carbon by 2050, compared with 2007 levels.

It currently operates in various Asian regions including India, Southeast Asia, Hong Kong and China, as well as Australia.

CLP is building Hong Kong's first offshore liquefied natural gas (LNG) receiving terminal as Hong Kong undertakes a massive shift to use more natural gas to fuel its electric power generation rather than coal.

By Jessica Jaganathan