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Coal-fired power projects approved by China amount to nearly 40 per cent of the world’s total, researchers say. Photo: Xinhua

China planning 226GW of new coal-fired power projects, environmental groups say

  • Total is more than twice the amount of new capacity on the books in India
  • Projects approved by China amount to nearly 40 per cent of world’s total planned coal-fired power plants, according to Global Coal Exit List
China’s total planned coal-fired power projects now stand at 226.2 gigawatts, the highest in the world and more than twice the amount of new capacity on the books in India, according to data published by environmental groups on Thursday.

The projects approved by China amount to nearly 40 per cent of the world’s total planned coal-fired power plants, according to the Global Coal Exit List database run by German environmental organisation Urgewald and 30 other partner organisations.

China’s new projects would be more than Germany’s existing installed power capacity of about 200GW at the end of last year.

China has more coal-fired power plants than anywhere else in the world. Photo: Reuters

The environmental groups said that 400 of the 746 companies in their global database were still planning to expand their coal operations.

The companies include miners and power generators, and account for 89 per cent of the world’s thermal coal production and nearly 87 per cento of its installed coal-fired power capacity.

Of the total, 161 are Chinese. China, the world’s biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, will be the focus of attention at next week’s United Nations summit on climate action in New York, with Beijing promising more ambition when it comes to tackling global warming.

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China has been under pressure to curb investments in coal at home and overseas but its financial institutions have continued to support such projects.

Beijing said on Tuesday in a position paper ahead of the UN meeting that it would remain on “the clean energy and low-carbon development path” but stopped short of setting new targets.

China has cut the share of coal in its total energy mix from more than 68 per cent in 2012 to 59 per cent at the end of last year, but overall consumption has continued to increase.

The country had 1,160GW of coal-fired power at the end of July, amounting to 62.8 per cent of the its total installed capacity. A Chinese industry group suggested the total capacity could eventually settle at 1,300GW.

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