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Inside Out | Climate change: is China’s surge in coal consumption just a passing phase?
- China’s increase in coal use is inflicting damage on its green credentials, given its progress in developing renewable energy
- The world must hope its fondness for coal in pursuit of energy security fades soon, while the US and Europe do more to cut their emissions
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It seemed we all agreed: the highest priority in battling global warming is to cut the use of fossil fuels, coal in particular. So, it is perplexing to see that coal consumption rose last year, and continues to rise today.
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Even more perplexing is that the main culprit is China, giving its critics yet more ammunition. It’s no surprise, then, that Group of 20 climate negotiators in Chennai last week were, according to the Financial Times, fuming at China for refusing to debate crucial issues such as methane emissions and reduced use of oil, gas and coal.
Concern over China’s progress in reducing carbon dioxide emissions is perfectly legitimate. As the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) latest China energy-sector road map made clear, “There is no plausible path to limiting global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees without China.” As the world’s largest energy consumer and carbon emitter, accounting for around a third of global carbon emissions, the IEA said, “No pledge [to reduce emissions] is as significant as China’s.”
The problem is that China presents an uncomfortable paradox. It has made great progress in developing renewable energy. By 2024, it is expected to account for 50 per cent of the world’s new solar power projects, 60 per cent of new onshore wind and almost 70 per cent of new offshore wind.
In 2022, it accounted for 49 per cent of renewable energy capacity added worldwide. It is also by far the leader in putting electric vehicles on the road. China was home to 14.1 million electric vehicles in 2022, compared to just 2.96 million in the US and 1.89 million in Germany.
It has invested more in clean energy than any other country, spending US$546 billion in 2022 on investments that included solar and wind energy, electric vehicles and batteries. That is nearly four times the US$141 billion spent in the US and three times Europe’s US$180 billion.
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