climate
China continues to take more coal power to the power grid
No country in the world builds up renewable energy as strongly as China. Despite everything, Beijing continues to put coal. Why doesn’t China dissolve from the climate -damaging energy source?
In the first half of 2025, China took as much coal power to the net as it has not been in nine years. And despite his rapid expansion in renewable energies. According to an analysis of the Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), the People’s Republic of Kraftwerke with a total capacity of 21 gigawatts – a top value for a first half of the year since 2016.
According to the experts, more than 80 gigawatts are likely to go online in 2025. The development of coal power in China does not show any signs of weakening and will be part of the energy system for years, analyst Christine Shearer said.
Beautifier in green energy
At the same time, China continues to use green energy. For 2025, the CREA expects an extension of more than 500 gigawatts in wind and solar energy. For comparison: According to the Federal Network Agency, Germany built almost 20 gigawatts for solar and wind energy as well as biomass systems for a total of 190 gigawatt.
According to an analysis in the online specialist portal Carbon letter, the expansion of green energy helped that the emissions of the climate-damaging greenhouse gas carbon dioxide in China decreased by one percent in China in China in China. The energy sector, as the largest CO2 issuer, blew three percent less carbon dioxide during this time.
China’s boom is driving economic growth and decarbonization with clean energies, but the continued expansion at coal also waste investments, said CREA analyst Qi Qin. China’s government relies on coal if there is not enough electricity from renewable energies. CREA criticizes that China rarely uses its coal -fired power plants in this way.
According to Crea, Beijing approved new coal projects with a total output of 25 gigawatts in the first half of the year. In addition, new and revived applications make up 75 gigawatts. The analysts suspect that the project carriers want to use the time window by 2030. Until then, China claims to have reached the climax of his CO2 emissions. In addition, it is still open which energy and climate goals Beijing will write in the next 15th five-year plan for the years 2026 to 2030.
The second largest economy in the world is considered an important part in the global struggle against climate change. The global community had agreed to exit coal in favor of the climate a few years ago during the climate conference in Glasgow – and has been confirming it several times since then. China also sits at the table.
dpa
Source: Stern
