Commentary on Political Economy

Thursday 19 November 2020

 

China Must Ban New Coal Power Plants to Meet 2060 Goal: Report

  • Draworld, CREA say China should double wind and solar installs
  • Coal power expansion could strand $304 billion in assets
A man tends to vegetables as emissions rise from a nearby coal-fired power station in Tongling, Anhui province, China.
A man tends to vegetables as emissions rise from a nearby coal-fired power station in Tongling, Anhui province, China. Photographer: Qilai Shen/Bloomberg

China needs to immediately stop building new coal power plants and double wind and solar installations to put itself on a path to meet its 2060 carbon neutrality pledge, climate researchers said in a new report.

China’s coal power fleet, already more than 1,000 gigawatts strong, is underutilized and already includes dozens of redundant plants, researchers from Draworld Environment Research Center and the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air said in the report. The country should aim to whittle its coal fleet down to about 680 gigawatts by 2030, instead of plans by some in the industry to expand it to about 1,300 gigawatts.

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