A Chinese state-owned investment holding company with more than 1 trillion yuan in assets under management exited the coal sector ahead of schedule, The Australian Financial Review reported March 19.

State Development & Investment Corp. Ltd., or SDIC, will no longer invest in coal-fired power plants and will turn its focus to other energy sources, the newspaper reported. SDIC said in 2016 that it would leave the coal sector by 2021.

Tim Buckley, the director of energy finance studies at the Institute of Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, said in a post on the organization's website that SDIC is "the first major domestic Chinese financial institution to exit coal" and called the announcement "globally significant." More than 100 institutions have restricted coal financing or insurance, according to IEEFA.

Some analysts told the Financial Review that SDIC's holdings would be shifted to another state-owned asset manager.

As of March 18, US$1 was equivalent to 6.71 yuan.