The construction of 14 coal power plants by China abroad is in sharp contrast to the promise President Xi Jinping made last year that his country would stop building coal
power plants overseas.
Centre for research on energy and clean air in its latest report claimed that China has completed 14 such facilities beyond its borders and will finish another 27 soon.
Out of 14 coal-fired plants, most of them are in Asia. CREA conducted study to see the ground reality a year after Xi Jinping took pledge before 2021 UN general assembly that China would stop building new coal power plants abroad. CREA findings prove that President Xi Jinping and his government have failed to keep the word.
Its findings have sent shockwaves to the global community. At domestic level, China has put more emphasis on energy security since the autumn of 2021 and said it would continue to maximize the use of coal in the coming years as it caters to its energy security, despite pledges to contribute to global efforts to reduceemissions. China, the world’s largest coal consumer, has domestic reserves of coal to last the next 50 years, latest data from the Ministry of Natural Resources stated.
Chinese President Xi Jinping had assured UN general assembly last year that China would stop building new coal power plants on foreign land but he kept quite on the fate of coal plants which were under construction or in the planning stage. At that time, 104 coal plants of a total of 102 gigawatts (GW) in 26 countries had already been planned,considered, or under construction under either Chinese financing or engineering, procurement and construction (EPCs) agreements, CREA stated in its report. CREA hasprepared this report in partnership with People of Asia for Climate Solutions.
CREA lamented that it is now too late for 7.6 GW or 14 plants, which have already entered into operation over the past year. These plants would add approximately 1.04 billion tonnes of CO2 from coal if they operate until 2050 (36 million tonnes of CO2 annually). Another 27 plants with 23 GW capacity are near completion, and they will likely enter into operation. According to CREA’s estimates, recently or soon-to-be completed plants will emit about 140 million tons of CO2 a year in total. That’s more than the national emissions of the Philippines.
CREA’s analysis of such plants have made startling revelations which, many environmentalists say, should not be ignored. CREA reported that a total of 26 plants have been officially cancelled, 33 coal plants could be cancelled or stopped because these projects are still in the process of securing financing or permits. Sixteen others could be converted to renewables, CREA suggested.
Such cancellations and conversions would result in the avoidance of as much as 341 million tons of carbon a year, more than the UK’s annual emissions, the researchers said.Twenty-six plants (21 GW) were removed from the pipeline, avoiding the addition of 85 million tonnes of CO2 per year. Majority of cancellations have been initiated by host countries; others have been cancelled/shelved due to poor project economics, years of legal challenges and local resistance, or delays in securing financing or permits.
According to CREA, 33 plants (36 GW) should be cancelled because cancellation would avoid an additional 172 million tonnes of CO2 from coal per year. Because these projects are still in the process of securing financing or permits, it is still possible for them to be cancelled or stopped. Vietnam leads with 6.4 GW, and several projects retained in the country’s newest PDP8 draft already have difficulty in securing financing. Countries such as Mongolia (6.1 GW) and Laos (6.3 GW) have coal planned for exporting electricity to neighbouring countries but such a move would leave these countries at great risk of stranded assets.
As many as 16 plants (17 GW) in pre-construction, can be converted to RE, or reconsidered for cancellation to avoid 84 million tonnes of CO2 annually —approximately Colombia’s CO2 emissions from its energy sector in 2021. Because permitting and/or financing contracts have already been signed, a project will need to get built to ensure there is no breach of contract. However, because no physical infrastructure is in place yet, it is still possible for contracts to be renegotiated to renewables. Included in this list are 4 new coal projects whose contracts were signed after China’s UNGA commitment, which suggests they are in violation of the ban.
As many as 27 plants (23 GW) well under construction means 104 million tonnes of CO2 annually will come online. All of these plants were already under construction at the time of Xi’s announcement, with the most number of plants found in Indonesia (7.8 GW or 9 plants), followed by India (3.4 GW), Pakistan (2.6 GW) and Vietnam (2.5 GW).
If the proposed coal capacity in limbo is officially cancelled, it could result in an avoidance of 341 million tonnes of CO2 emissions annually — equivalent to the United Kingdom’s energy sector CO2 emissions in 2021. This total avoidance would rack up to an estimated 8.6 billion tonnes of cumulative CO2, assuming that all of these coal plants would have retired by 2050, which will be crucial to evade 2°C of warming and keep with the Paris climate targets.
It may be noted here that President Jinping while committing to stop building coal power plants in other countries and support green energy, he chose not to specify what would happen to projects already underway. Since then, China has pushed to boost coal production and sped up the permitting process for domestic power plants, part of a
campaign to end a series of economy-crippling power crunches.
Since the announcement, 26 projects have been officially cancelled, the researchers said. Another 33 could be cancelled because they don’t have permits or secure financing.
Sixteen more have to be built to satisfy contractual agreements, but because construction hasn’t started, the report’s authors suggest they could be converted to clean energy.