Ralph Evans: "China leads on renewable energy"

January 30, 2024

China Pledged to Strictly Control Coal. The Opposite Happened.

In April 2021, Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged to strictly control coal-fired power generation projects in China. According to analysis of Global Energy Monitor data, in the two years before Xis pledge, the government approved 127 plants, collectively capable of producing 54 gigawatts of coal power. In the two years after, that number rose to 182 plants, with 131 gigawatts of coal power. Chinas new coal power capacity has more than doubled.

China opened the 1,800 kilometer Haoji Railway in 2019 specifically to carry coal.

Designed to carry more than 200 million tonnes/year, the formerly named Menghua Railway, crosses both the Yangtze and Yellow rivers twice, and passes through the Mu Us desert, the Loess Plateau, and three mountain ranges.

There are 770 bridges totalling 381km and 229 tunnels totalling 468.5km.

The UKs top four trade partners are Germany, the US, China and the Netherlands. All four of these countries have a significantly larger share of coal-fired electricity in their energy supply than the UK does. Goods produced in factories in those countries will have a higher emissions footprint than those produced in UK factories.