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Reuters

China is indispensable to achieving global climate goals and must find a safe alternative to coal, which accounted for nearly 60 per cent of the country’s electricity supply last year, German Economic Affairs Minister Robert Habeck has said.
China was expanding coal production for security reasons, Habeck said in Hangzhou on Sunday, citing Chinese officials he met the previous day in Beijing.
“China also imports large amounts of gas and oil and China has already seen what has happened in Europe and Germany in the last two years,” he added, referring to the energy crisis triggered by Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
He also said cooperation with China must be strengthened.
“Without China it would not be possible to meet the climate targets globally”, Habeck said, adding that it should be possible to achieve the same level of security with fewer coal-fired power plants.


Later, Habeck told students at Zhejiang University that the difficulty lay in integrating variable forms of energy such as wind and solar into a system built to work on more predictable fuels.
He said that doubling capacities was “the old way” of doing it, but not the most efficient.
China is expanding its coal production but also installed almost 350 gigawatts of new renewable energy capacity in 2023, more than half the global total.
Habeck said extension of the power grid and use of batteries to store energy could reduce the number of traditionally fuelled power plants needed to meet China’s needs.
Economic growth and climate action were not opposites, he added.
“Transforming the economy to a climate-neutral one is not only good for the climate but creates new opportunities for wealth and growth.”


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Robert Habeck says extension of the power grid and use of batteries to store energy could reduce the number of traditionally fuelled power plants needed to meet China’s needs. Photo: dpa

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A worker sorts coal near in Datong, northern Shanxi province, China’s top coal producing region. Photo: AFP

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China’s rapid growth in photovoltaic power has generated an excess of capacity, but an energy official has said the issue will be resolved after the industry moves to the next stage of development. Photo: Xinhua

China’s rapid growth in photovoltaic power has generated an excess of capacity, but an energy official has said the issue will be resolved after the industry moves to the next stage of development. Photo: AP

News

China

Diplomacy

China is expanding coal production for security reasons, Robert Habeck says after talks with Chinese officials in Beijing


China is expanding coal production for security reasons, Robert Habeck says after talks with Chinese officials in Beijing.


China’s power crisis

China economy

Energy