The new report, published simultaneously from Beijing and Helsinki, titled “China’s carbon neutrality target implies planned coal power expansion cannot go ahead”, questions the lofty promise given Beijing’s plans to build more coal-fired plants. The report points out that China has around 130GW redundant coal power capacity among the total coal-fired capacity of more than 1,000GW. “The report’s authors call for China to initiate a policy process to phase out coal-fired power plants. A further expansion of the coal-fired power industry would greatly complicate this challenge, requiring a cliff fall of coal power generation after 2030,” Zhang added. China has nearly 250 gigawatts (GW) of coal-fired power under development, a study published in June had said.

Source: Hindustan Times November 20, 2020 05:09 UTC