A study published today, Friday April 22, from the Center on Research on Energy and Clean Air says that at least 18 new coal plant projects abroad will probably go ahead despite China’s pledge to stop building coal power plants overseas. The plants have secured financing and permits.
In addition, China’s Premier Li Keqiang confirmed a goal of 300 million tons of new coal production capacity in 2022, up from 220 million tons added last year. China already consumes and produces about half the world’s coal.
China pledged at the last round of talks on global climate change to stop building coal power plants overseas. That promise came after China’s President Xi Jinping had already pledged to “phase down” domestic coal production after 2025 and announced plans to top-out the country’s carbon dioxide emissions before 2030 and reach carbon neutral by 2060. Internationally, the Chinese ban on new overseas coal plants has led to 12.8 gigawatts of coal power being shelved or canceled, but the fate of another 57 plants remains uncertain, according to the analysis by the Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air. Of those projects, 18 remain in a “gray area,” the reports says, where, despite no construction having taken place, they may go ahead due to having secured financing and permits.
The lack of faster (or any) progress on phasing out coal and the country’s relatively distant pledge to hit carbon neutral by 2060 run head on into the recommendations of the latest report from the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that concluded that coal use needs to fall by three quarters from 2019 levels by 2030 to keep global warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels by 2050.
Part of the delay in reaching carbon neutral comes from China’s continued reliance on stimulating its economy through construction and other carbon-intensive industries. That emphasis means that even with huge investments in renewable energy, China’s economy will continue to need coal-fired electricity and will continue to add additional carbon to the environment.
