China approved 83% fewer coal-fired power plants in the first half of this year than in the same period in 2023. However, the country’s targets suggest that more capacity will be added in the second half of the year.
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The world’s largest coal-producing country significantly reduced its coal production in the first half of this year as part of an unprecedented use of renewable energies.
China, which produced record coal output last year, has cut permits for new coal-fired power plants by 83% in the first half of 2024 compared with the same period last year, approving only 12 projects totaling 9 gigawatts. The country had previously approved 106 gigawatts of coal-fired power capacity in 2022, the highest amount since 2015, and another 70.2 gigawatts in 2023 – 95% of global new coal-fired power construction this year.
The drop in the number of approvals for new coal projects coincides with an unprecedented deployment of renewable energy, rarely matched anywhere else in the world. Citing figures released by the Chinese government last week, CREA reported that electricity generation from solar and wind power in China has increased by 171 terawatts so far this year, equivalent to the amount the UK produced from all energy sources over the same period in 2023.
In June, China announced that it would achieve a target of 39 percent of electricity generation coming from non-fossil fuels by the end of 2025. By 2022, the share of non-fossil energy will be 36.2 percent, according to government figures.
This year, China also halted permits for new coal-fired steel plants, the country’s second-biggest emitter after the power industry. The move is the latest sign of a sharp shift away from unconditional industrial growth – especially after the economic impact of strict Covid-19 restrictions – and toward prioritizing cleaner, higher-value products. China’s 2024-25 energy conservation and emissions reduction action plan reinforces this shift. Unveiled in June, the plan highlights emissions-intensive industries such as steel production, petrochemicals, nonferrous metals and building materials, and sets ambitious emissions reduction targets that authorities say they will make “every effort” to achieve.
Nevertheless, new data presented by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) in a press release on Thursday also point to “robust” construction activity in coal-fired power plant construction this year. According to CREA, a nonprofit think tank that researches energy and air pollution, China has initiated 41 gigawatts of new projects since January. This represents 90% of global new construction activity and is just below China’s total activity in 2022.
It is still too early to talk about the end of the coal era
China’s dependence on coal remains high. The dirty fossil fuel, which is much cheaper compared to natural gas and oil, covered 60% of its electricity in 2023. In addition, the country has set a target of bringing 80 gigawatts of coal-fired power plants online in 2024, which could lead to a surge in project completions between now and December, according to CREA.
“It has been clear to me for some time that there needs to be a course correction as the number of new coal-fired power plants approved in 2022-23 was clearly too high,” said Lauri Myllyvirta, senior analyst at CREA. “Although the permitting process has slowed down significantly, there is still a huge amount of capacity under construction and scheduled to come online in 2022-23 as a result of the wave of permits. More than 40 GW of new projects started construction in the first half of the year. Further measures will be needed to address the resulting overcapacity.”
Gao Yuhe, Greenpeace East Asia project director in Beijing, said on Tuesday that despite the encouraging data, “only time can tell” whether this is the beginning of the end of China’s coal era. “A recovery remains possible until decisive action is taken to directly prevent further coal expansion. And without more proactive support for the grid connection of wind and solar power, a post-peak plateau remains a risk,” Yuhe said.
The burning of coal, natural gas and oil to generate electricity and heat is the largest single source of global greenhouse gas emissions, the main cause of global warming, as they trap heat in the atmosphere and raise the Earth’s surface temperature. Global fossil fuel consumption has more than doubled in the past 50 years as countries around the world have worked to improve their living standards and economic performance. But scientists have long warned that restricting fossil fuel extraction and consumption is the only way to halt global warming and secure a livable future.
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