China has ramped up approvals for new coal power plants this year, Greenpeace said yesterday, as authorities try to lower the risk of economically painful electricity shortages.
China is the world’s biggest emitter of the greenhouse gases driving global warming, and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) last year vowed to phase down coal use from 2026 as part of an ambitious set of national climate commitments.
However, campaigners fear those targets are under threat with the government focused on economic challenges, even as the effects of climate change are felt around the world.
Photo: AFP
In the first quarter of this year, Chinese regulators gave the green light to coal plants with a total capacity of 8.63 gigawatts, research conducted by Greenpeace found.
That is nearly half of the entire coal-fired capacity approved last year, the environmental campaign group said.
“Building more coal-fired power capacity will not provide energy security for China,” said Wu Jinghan (吳婧涵), climate and energy campaigner with Greenpeace in Beijing.
“China has an overcapacity of coal-fired power plants. Power inadequacies originate from poor integration of generation, grid, load and storage,” Wu said.
The figure for new coal plant approvals dipped in the middle of last year, but rebounded later in the year as China experienced widespread power outages due to a supply crunch.
Electricity consumption has surged this summer as China is experiencing an intense heat wave, with air-conditioning cranked up at homes and businesses to try to keep people cool.
China relies on coal for about 60 percent of its electricity, and has asked domestic miners to increase capacity by 272 million tonnes this year.
The Chinese State Council in May announced 10 billion yuan (US$1.5 billion) of investment in coal power generation, as coal producers were pressured to ramp up output before the 2025 threshold.
“An overcapacity of this one energy source is a major hurdle for energy security, as well as China’s energy transition,” Wu said.
Skyrocketing global commodity prices in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have renewed China’s focus on energy security.
As the Chinese economy stalls under strict COVID-19 policies and prolonged supply chain disruptions, authorities are looking to boost growth through a massive infrastructure construction push, which relies overwhelmingly on coal power.
China is the world’s biggest coal consumer and producer, and analysts worry that economic targets could derail its pledge to peak carbon emissions by 2030.
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