China Announces Building of New Coal-Burning Powerplants

Credit: Xinhua/Rex/Shutterstock in The Guardian

China is facing an energy crisis with costs increasing and outputs decreasing as flooding has forced many coal mines and plants to shut down (Axios). With the UN climate summit COP26 set to begin at the end of the month, China has recently announced that it will be building more coal-burning power plants in order to help ensure that its energy needs can be met (The Guardian). The Communist Party has also recently announced that they need to revisit their timetable for reaching peak emissions in light of the recent energy crisis. (The Guardian). These announcements seem to indicate setbacks to decreasing worldwide carbon emissions


Credit: Axios

China is a major contributor to coal emissions worldwide, burning more coal than every other member of the G20 combined (The Guardian). As such, ensuring their cooperation is essential when it comes to reducing world emissions and reaching the goals set forth by the Paris Accords. The decisions China’s government have made seem to put not only those goals at risk, but also the success of the upcoming COP26 summit in the UK.


Some experts, though, have claimed that there is not necessarily cause for concern. China’s decision to build more coal plants does not mean they will increase carbon production, merely carbon capacity, in case of emergencies such as the ones China is currently facing. Additionally, while China is building new domestic power plants, they have announced that they will stop funding foreign coal projects. Combined with China’s continued participation in climate summits, there seems to be hope that China will continue seeking to reduce its emissions (The Guardian).



Credit: Reuters

Despite those claims, there is still a need for China to step up its efforts to reduce emissions. China’s carbon emissions have been continually rising, tripling over the last thirty years (The Guardian). As such, it is imperative that they commit to reducing fossil fuel usage and switching to cleaner fuel sources, which currently make up only around 15% of energy consumption. When combined with the fact that, as mentioned above, China's coal emissions outnumber the combined output of every other G20 country, the need for cleaner energy is clear.



Sources:


https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/oct/13/will-chinas-plan-to-build-more-coal-plants-derail-cop26


https://www.reuters.com/world/china/china-coal-prices-hit-record-high-floods-add-supply-woes-2021-10-13/


https://www.axios.com/china-energy-coal-threatens-climate-goals-9cbddf1e-6db7-4dee-9a6e-88df8bcfc66a.html


https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/oct/12/china-coal-fired-plants-uk-cop26-climate-summit-global-phase-out