The world has pledged to wean itself off ‘dirty’ coal to slow the pace of climate change, so why is China – already the world’s top producer and consumer of coal – upping its output?
China is home to dozens of polluting coal-fired power plants and emits more greenhouse gasses than any other nation.
But to keep global warming below the internationally agreed 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit) threshold, countries must quit their coal habit, retire plants early and run existing plants less, according to the International Energy Agency.
China has said the country will start cutting coal between 2026 and 2030 but is yet to commit to a full phase-out.
In a smart hedge ahead of losing its coal, China has emerged as a global leader in renewable energy – but continues to develop harmful coal-fired power in the interim.
Here are the facts about coal and China you need to know:
How big is China’s coal industry?
China mined a record 4.7 billion metric tons of coal in 2023 and is developing mines to produce an extra billion tons each year, according to US-based Global Energy Monitor (GEM), a non-governmental organisation that tracks energy projects.
In coal-intensive regions such as Shaanxi, in northern China, coal mining employs up to 8 per cent of the local workforce.
Climate justice advocates say countries that rely heavily on coal for jobs face a harder transition to clean energy.
Its two biggest polluting power plants – Togtoh Power Station in Inner Mongolia and Huadian Laizhou in Shandong province – each produced over 27 million tons of CO2 in 2022, according to Climate Trace, an organisation that tracks greenhouse gas emissions through tech.
The pollution from each mega-plant roughly matches the emissions of seven standard coal-fired power plants, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency.
Why is China developing new coal?
In 2022, Beijing said it would keep building coal-powered plants and approved 106 gigawatts of new coal-fired capacity: the most since 2015 and enough to power all of Britain.
Domestic electricity demand is growing and reached a record peak this summer due to high temperatures, according to the China Electricity Council.
Security concerns over energy shortfalls have also led to a rash of new power permits being granted in recent years.
China said its new facilities aim to guarantee enough power to meet peak demand as well as back up its renewable capacity.
What capacity for renewable energy does China have?
China had over 750,000 megawatts (MW) of renewable energy capacity from wind and solar in 2022, the most of any country in the world and three times that of the next biggest, the United States, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency.
Wind and solar capacity in China are expected to surpass coal generation, according to GEM, and have already helped drive a 7 per cent drop in coal power output between June 2023 and June 2024, according to joint report GEM compiled with the Helsinki-based Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air.
But slow integration of renewable power to the grid and poor infrastructure to centres of demand are slowing progress, GEM said.
What is China doing to transition away from coal?
China says it will start phasing down coal after 2025 but it is unclear whether new plants will still be approved.
In addition to expanding its renewable sector, China has started decommissioning coal-fired plants and is integrating renewables in its new coal projects.
A new mega-plant Yushen Yuheng in China’s coal heartland is replacing 702 MW of power from small, less-efficient plants and its construction includes 60 MW of wind power, 260 MW of solar and 100,000 tons annually of carbon capture.
China is a global leader in green jobs and has nearly 4.6 million people employed in the solar power sector, according to the World Economic Forum.
But a recent study by the Beijing Institute of Technology stressed the need for policy to support the creation of new industries and jobs, and the retraining of workers during the clean energy transition.
China could lose 8.2 million jobs in its coal supply chain, with renewables filling a quarter of those, researchers found.
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