Coal Plants Expanding World Wide, Not So In The United States

As we rush toward the impossible zero electric power emissions by 2030, our coal burn is rebounding to an estimated 600 million tons a year. Speaking of trillions, that is 1.2 trillion pounds of coal, reports David Wojick. ¹ Besides this, coal producers are actively pursuing 2.2 billion tons per annum of new mine projects around the world, a growth of 30 percent from current production levels.

The cost of going net-zero for China exceeds seven to fourteen percent of its GDP

Five Asian countries are jeopardizing climate ambitions by investing in 80% of the world's planned new coal plants. Why are they knocking back all the cheap solar and wind power? Could it be that China, India, Indonesia, Japan and Vietnam are filled with stupid people who can't add up. Or is it that they can do the sums and they noticed that every nation with renewables also has expensive electricity, asks Julian Ambrose. ² The cost of going net-zero for China exceeds seven to fourteen percent of its GDP. Instead, China uses green rhetoric to placate westerners but aims for development with 247 new coal fired power plants. China now emits more greenhouse gases than the entire rich world.³ Most other poorer countries are hoping to follow China's rapid ascendance. At a recent climate conference, where dozens of high-level delegates dutifully lauded net-zero, India went off-script. As other participants squirmed, power minister Raj Kumar Singh inconveniently blurted out the truth: net-zero 'is just pie-in-the-sky.' He added that developing countries will want to use more and more fossil fuels and 'you can't stop them.' Bjorn Lomborg notes, “If we push on with our climate doublethink, rich people will likely continue to wring their hands and aim for net-zero, even at considerable costs to their own societies. But three-quarters of future emissions come from poorer countries using what they regard as the more important development priorities of avoiding poverty, hunger and disease.” ³ China's latest five-year plan increases investment in coal and omits any cap on total energy consumption. This leads to the observation that 'the central contradiction between expanding the smokestack economy and promoting green growth appears unresolved.' The lack of a cap on total energy consumption was a notable exclusion. ⁴

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Coal remains at the heart of China's flourishing economy

Coal remains at the heart of China's flourishing economy. In 2019, 58 percent of the country's total energy consumption came from coal, which helps explain why China accounts for 28 percent of all global CO2 emissions. And China continues to build coal fired power plants at a rate that outpaces the rest of the world combined. In 2020, China brought 38.4 gigawatts of new coal fired power into operation, more than three times what was brought on line everywhere else. ⁵ A total of 247 gigawatts is now in planning or development, nearly six times Germany's entire coal fired capacity. China has also proposed additional new coal plants that, if built, would generate 73.5 gigawatts of power, more than five times the 13.9 gigawatts proposed in the rest of the world combined. Last year, Chinese provinces granted construction approval to 47 gigawatts of coal power projects, more than three times the capacity permitted in 2019. In spite of all this, China publicly demands the USA fulfill Obama's Paris Agreement pledges, and makes a big deal of their conversion to green energy. However behind the scenes the Chinese green scene is starting to look like a gigantic coal plant construction exercise. While China is building coal plants around the world, the United States is shuttering its coal fired power plants, despite having, by far, the world's largest supply of coal. Between January 2017 and May 2019, the United States shuttered 50 coal fired plants, with 51 more shutdowns announced, bringing the total shutdowns to 289 since 2010. ⁶

References

1. David Wojick, “Green mania hits the wall of nothingness,” cfact.org, June 23, 2021
2. Julian Ambrose, “China, India, Indonesia, Japan and Vietnam plan to build more than 600 coal power units,” The Guardian, June 28, 2021
3. Bjorn Lomborg, “Enough with the net-zero doublethink,” financialpost.com, June 17, 2021
4. “China economic blueprint signals more coal investment,” thejakartapost.com, March 5, 2021
5. Michael Standaert, “Despite pledges to cut emissions, China goes on a coal spree,” e360.yale.edu, March 24, 2021
6. Emma New burger, “President Joe Biden rejoins the Paris climate accord in the first move to tackle global warming,” cnbc.com, January 20, 2021