Despite Phony Climate Pledges, Beijing’s Coal Boom Is Soaring
News of record installations of so-called ‘renewable’ energy electric generation in China may have kindled the hopes of those supporting the “green” agenda and hostile to ‘fossil fuels’
However, China is in no position to give up hydrocarbons, particularly coal.
During the first half of 2023, China approved 52 gigawatts (GW) of new coal power, which was more than all the approvals issued in 2021.
These new approvals are in addition to the 136 GW of coal capacity already under construction. Together, these new plants represent more than 67% of all new approvals in the world.
Why is China doing this despite climate pledges? And what does the future hold?
Turning Away from Paris One Step at a Time
Nearly all countries signed the Paris Agreement in 2015, which set [fake] aggressive goals to keep [fake] global warming below two degrees Celsius over preindustrial levels.
The assumption was that reducing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from burning fossil fuels would halt future warming deemed as catastrophic.
As part of this accord, China, the largest ‘greenhouse gas’ emitter in the world, agreed to reach carbon neutrality by 2060 and peak its emissions of CO2 by 2030.
Many praised these promises, celebrating China’s apparent acceptance of its supposed responsibility to address the climate ‘issue’.
But these promises are at odds with reality.
China’s economy is mostly based on ‘fossil fuels’, which are the most affordable, abundant, and dependable energy source.
At 159 exajoules, China’s primary energy consumption in 2022 was the highest in the world, and 40 percent more than that consumed by the U.S. — the second largest user.
Last year, 82% of the total energy consumed by China came from coal, oil, and natural gas. Wind and solar, despite significant investments by Beijing, represented just seven percent of all energy consumed in 2022.
Coal remains the linchpin of China’s energy infrastructure and economic vitality. According to the National Bureau of Statistics of China, coal consumption increased by more than four percent in 2022.
Coal imports in August 2023 were the highest since 2015. China is ramping up its imports from Russia and Australia and continues to increase imports from Indonesia, which is its main supplier.
Tsvetana Paraskova of OilPrice.com writes, “China is mining record amounts of coal and also importing record volumes of coal as it looks to boost its energy security.”
This growing appetite for coal is inevitable given the huge demand from the power sector and industry in general.
Demand from Industries to Increase Coal Demand
Over one billion tons of crude steel are produced in China each year, accounting for over half of global steel output. The Chinese steel industries—over 90 percent of them—use coal-based processes.
Despite introducing in 2021 a policy to curb emissions of CO2, Beijing has yet to announce any cap for steel production.
S&P Global believes that there will be “no mandatory steel output cuts this year.” The crude steel output in 2023 is to exceed 2022 levels.
According to the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, “Chinese steel firms are making significant investments in new coal-based steelmaking capacity.”
To put this in context, China’s approval of new steel capacity per year is twice that of the entire capacity of the German steel industry.
Like steelmaking, manufacturing cement is energy-intensive, with coal accounting for up to 85 percent of the energy used in the process. China is the world’s largest producer and consumer of cement.
According to analysts, “China consumes as much cement every two years as the U.S. did over the entire 20th century.”
Cement production is projected to increase further in the coming years, and high demand will possibly last for decades.
In short, China’s security and economic growth depend on satiating the country’s colossal appetite for ‘fossil fuels’. Western politics around a nonexistent climate crisis won’t change that.
See more here climatechangedispatch
Header image: Calxin Global
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Tom
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By 2040, China will be the big dog on the block and green energy will be long gone dead and buried. Or perhaps, if gates gets his way, half of the world’s population will be dead and gone by 2030 and global warming will be a thing of the past.
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Howdy
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Hmm, some things to remember:
China is spoken of like it’s an alien entity killing the planet forcefully. “China” is a country, not a thing.
It has a population that is large, and that means large power requirements. China is also the world manufacturing centre, again, large power consumption, yet some time in the past due to it’s lower costs, was the world darling, best dumping ground etc.
Perhaps the place ‘woke up’ and the (ab)users don’t like it?
China is blessed in it’s actions by the powers that be. Blame the bestowers, not the bestowed. That means start at home.
Odd that China is bad for doing this, yet a trickle of the same is beginning from other places on the planet as the realization sets in?
Blame anything but one’s own faulty/purposeful choices, eh?
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