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China planning 226GW of new coal-fired power projects, environmental groups say

  • Total is more than twice the amount of new capacity on the books in India
  • Projects approved by China amount to nearly 40 per cent of world’s total planned coal-fired power plants, according to Global Coal Exit List

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Coal-fired power projects approved by China amount to nearly 40 per cent of the world’s total, researchers say. Photo: Xinhua
China’s total planned coal-fired power projects now stand at 226.2 gigawatts, the highest in the world and more than twice the amount of new capacity on the books in India, according to data published by environmental groups on Thursday.
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The projects approved by China amount to nearly 40 per cent of the world’s total planned coal-fired power plants, according to the Global Coal Exit List database run by German environmental organisation Urgewald and 30 other partner organisations.

China’s new projects would be more than Germany’s existing installed power capacity of about 200GW at the end of last year.

China has more coal-fired power plants than anywhere else in the world. Photo: Reuters
China has more coal-fired power plants than anywhere else in the world. Photo: Reuters

The environmental groups said that 400 of the 746 companies in their global database were still planning to expand their coal operations.

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The companies include miners and power generators, and account for 89 per cent of the world’s thermal coal production and nearly 87 per cento of its installed coal-fired power capacity.

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