Energy and climate
Report: China continues to focus on coal
Chinas produces electricity to a large extent from climate -damaging coal. The expansion of wind and solar energy gave experts hope for a turn in the first half of 2024. But it turned out differently.
Contrary to earlier signs, China continues to increase coal generation. As the Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) and the Global Energy Monitor write in a report, China 2024 started building coal projects with a total output of around 94.5 gigawatts. According to the experts, a maximum value since 2015. Announcements have been made on the net that were supposed to create 30.5 gigawatts of performance, which was less than in the previous year (49.8 gigawatt).
Contrary to the global trend, China continues to build coal capacities, as the report said. The authors also pointed out that in the fourth quarter of 2024 the use of solar and wind energy had dropped drastically, while the country produced electricity from fossil fuels at a high level, although electricity demand grew more slowly.
Expert: Coal expansion inhibits energy conversion
“China’s rapid expansion of renewable energies has the potential to redesign the Chinese energy system, but this chance is undermined by the simultaneous massive expansion of coal power,” said Crea analyst Qin Qi. The further approval and the construction of new coal -fired power plants would often be determined more by industrial interests than by the actual network requirements and threatened to include China in a dependency on fossil fuels, she continued.
In September, the organizations still found that China had approved far fewer coal -powered projects in the first half of 2024 than in the same period last year. Accordingly, 83 percent fewer projects and thus only an overall output of 9 gigawatts were approved.
China Primus when expanding renewable energy
China builds as much sun and wind energy than no other country. Last year, according to the national energy authority, the People’s Republic set 356 gigawatts on solar cells and wind turbines. For comparison: Germany built around 16.2 gigawatts of photovoltaic systems and 2.5 gigawatts of wind performance in 2024. However, China is also considered the largest issuer of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide. By 2030, China wants to have reached the top of CO2 emissions and be climate-neutral up to 2060.
dpa
Source: Stern
