China generated over half world’s coal power in 2020

• 3 years ago (2021-03-30)
• David Flin

Asia 892 Coal 296

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A report from the energy and climate research organisation Ember said that China generated 53 per cent of the world’s total coal-fired power during 2020, and that it was the only G20 nation to see a major increase in its coal-fired generation. It said that despite the Chinese government’s pledge to reduce its coal dependency, the country saw its coal-fired generation increased by 77 TWh.

A separate report from Greenpeace found that in 2020, China opened 38.4 GW in new coal-fired power installations in 2020, while the government approved 46.1 GW of new coal-fired projects. Lauri Myllyvirta, lead analyst at the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, and author of the Greenpeace report, said: “The efforts of China’s central government to transition to renewables and a more market-oriented operation of the power system should mean that investment is driven by need and profitability. However, this is hitting up against political reality as local governments move to stimulate local GDP and create demand for locally mined coal by approving new coal plants.”

The Ember report noted that the four largest countries that generate electricity using coal-fired plants saw a shrinkage in coal-power use in 2020: Japan (-1 per cent), India (-5 per cent), South Korea (-13 per cent), and USA (-20 per cent).