China keeps building mega coal projects

China’s power industry began construction on nearly 100 gigawatts of new coal plant capacity last year, the most in nearly a decade, a report from two clean-energy groups said Thursday.

China’s power industry began construction on nearly 100 gigawatts of new coal plant capacity last year, the most in nearly a decade, a report from two clean-energy groups said Thursday. The development raises concerns about the ability of the world’s largest carbon dioxide emitter to meet its climate goals and threatens to undercut China’s massive expansion in solar and wind power, which has far outpaced that in the United States and Europe, the report said. “Instead of replacing coal, clean energy is being layered on top of an entrenched reliance on fossil fuels,” it said. The report is part of a review of China’s coal projects done every six months by the Europe-based Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air and the US-based Global Energy Monitor. Construction began on 94.5 gigawatts of coal power plant capacity in 2024, more than in any year since 2015, according to a worldwide database of coal plants maintained by Global Energy Monitor. Work also resumed on 3.3 gigawatts of suspended projects, the report said.