Coal news and updates

China’s approvals for new coal plants rebound amid renewed focus on energy security after last year’s power crisis: Greenpeace

·         China okayed 8.63 gigawatts of additional coal-fired capacity in the first quarter, about 50 per cent of the overall total for 2021, Greenpeace report shows

·         Approvals for new coal plants decreased 58 per cent year on year in 2021 following President Xi’s call to ‘strictly control the expansion of coal power’

·         China’s call to boost coal supplies following the power shortage last year and subsequent surge in approval for coal-fired plants has climate experts worried about the nation’s carbon-neutral goals.

·         Provincial governments across China approved plans to add a total of 8.63 gigawatts (GW) of coal-fired power plants in the first quarter of 2022 alone, nearly 50 per cent of the capacity approved in the whole of 2021, according to a new report from Greenpeace East Asia on Wednesday.

·         The nods for coal-fired plants gathered pace in the fourth quarter of last year, after China experienced a nationwide power shortage since September. In 2021, China only okayed 18.55GW of coal capacity, a year-on-year decrease of 57.66 per cent, according to the environmental group. However, more than 11GW was okayed in the fourth quarter alone.

·         “Building more coal-fired power capacity will not provide energy security for China. This is a deep-seated falsehood,” said Wu Jinghan, a climate and energy campaigner in Greenpeace East Asia’s Beijing office. “An overcapacity of this one energy source is a major hurdle for energy security, as well as China’s energy transition.”