China’s accelerating green transition | Two-thirds of all new solar and wind power projects are based in the country. But to wean industry off coal, Beijing needs to set up a real energy market
China’s accelerating green transition | Two-thirds of all new solar and wind power projects are based in the country. But to wean industry off coal, Beijing needs to set up a real energy market
> Beijing has long outlined big ambitions for its green transition. But environmentalists inside and outside China remain sceptical that the country will ever shake its addiction to coal.
> In the two decades after the turn of the century China’s emissions from burning of fossil fuels rose about 245 per cent to around 11 gigatonnes by 2021 — more than double that of the US, the world’s second biggest polluter.
> Among their top worries are the slow rate of retirement of older coal-fired power plants, a resurgence in the pace of new coal builds — China accounted for two-thirds of all global coal-capacity additions last year — and a move last year by Beijing to guarantee a fixed payment to coal power stations, rather than just pay for the energy they produce.
> For years, deep political opposition to reform has stemmed from China’s coal-related state-owned enterprises alongside State Grid and China Southern Power Grid — the two state groups responsible for electricity distribution and transmission to the entire country.
> The coal industry has long resisted a more flexible grid system that benefits renewables and has “proven to be a very significant roadblock for any reforms”, says Li Shuo, one of the world’s top analysts of Chinese climate and energy policy. From the grid operator’s perspective, he adds, there has been “very strong political incentive” to prioritise coal power at the expense of cleaner, albeit fluctuating renewable energy sources.
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> Beijing has long outlined big ambitions for its green transition. But environmentalists inside and outside China remain sceptical that the country will ever shake its addiction to coal.
> In the two decades after the turn of the century China’s emissions from burning of fossil fuels rose about 245 per cent to around 11 gigatonnes by 2021 — more than double that of the US, the world’s second biggest polluter.
> Among their top worries are the slow rate of retirement of older coal-fired power plants, a resurgence in the pace of new coal builds — China accounted for two-thirds of all global coal-capacity additions last year — and a move last year by Beijing to guarantee a fixed payment to coal power stations, rather than just pay for the energy they produce.
> For years, deep political opposition to reform has stemmed from China’s coal-related state-owned enterprises alongside State Grid and China Southern Power Grid — the two state groups responsible for electricity distribution and transmission to the entire country.
> The coal industry has long resisted a more flexible grid system that benefits renewables and has “proven to be a very significant roadblock for any reforms”, says Li Shuo, one of the world’s top analysts of Chinese climate and energy policy. From the grid operator’s perspective, he adds, there has been “very strong political incentive” to prioritise coal power at the expense of cleaner, albeit fluctuating renewable energy sources.
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