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Climate change: China approved most coal power plants since 2015 last year, making environmental goals harder, research shows
- Local governments gave permission for 106GW of new coal power capacity in 2022, the most since 2015, and four times the amount a year earlier
- ‘China continues to be the glaring exception to the ongoing global decline in coal plant development,’ says analyst
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Yujie Xuein Shenzhen
China embarked on a massive expansion of its coal-fired power capacity in response to last summer’s historic power crisis, approving the equivalent of two large coal power plants per week, new research has found.
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The rapid coal buildout has been happening at the same time as China speeds up installation of renewable power to meet its decarbonisation goals. That raises concerns that many of the new coal power plants will be largely redundant, acting merely as spare capacity and placing a huge financial burden on the nation’s power generators, according to climate analysts.
Chinese local governments gave permission for 106 gigawatts (GW) of new coal power capacity in 2022, the most since 2015, and four times the amount a year earlier. It was equivalent to 100 large coal-fired power plants, according to a report by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) and Global Energy Monitor (GEM).
Construction of some 50GW of coal power capacity got under way in China last year, a more than 50 per cent increase from 2021 and six times that in the rest of the world combined, according to the report.
“China continues to be the glaring exception to the ongoing global decline in coal plant development,” said Flora Champenois, a research analyst at GEM. “The speed at which projects progressed through permitting to construction in 2022 was extraordinary, with many projects sprouting up, gaining permits, obtaining financing, and breaking ground apparently in a matter of months.”
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Such speed leaves little room for proper planning or consideration of alternatives, added Champenois. It also makes the country’s goals of reaching peak coal use by 2025 and net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2060 much harder to achieve.
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