11 April 2023 – The world has agreed to close all existing coal stations by 2040 to meet the climate targets agreed in the Paris Agreement. But new data shows that despite this new coal power is still being built.
About a third of all energy worldwide comes from coal stations. But coal is the worst polluter of all the fossil fuels.
That’s why governments around the world have agreed to stop using it by 2040 to meet the climate targets of the Paris Agreement. However, research by the NGO Global Energy Monitor (GEM) shows that new coal power is still being developed.
The report concludes that the phaseout of coal is not happening fast enough. And unless it’s sped up, and the world stops building new plants, we won’t be able to achieve the Paris Agreement targets.
China Swimming Against The Stream
The world has currently a coal capacity of 2,100 gigawatts (GW). But more capacity is to come online, with 189 coal stations being under construction. These will add a coal capacity of 176 GW once completed.
Additionally, a further increase of 280 GW is planned. According to the GEM report, in the last year alone, the global coal capacity grew by 19.5 GW, which is a 1% increase.
Already, the report notes that coal stations should be closed four and a half times faster than the current levels to meet climate targets. But instead, new coal power is developed.
At this rate, the transition away from existing and new coal isn’t happening fast enough to avoid climate chaos.
Flora Champenois, Lead Author of GEM Report
While in the past few years all G20 countries, as well as Japan, South Korea and China have committed to stop public support for new international coal plants, China seems to continue to build new coal stations.
In 2021 alone, China has started construction on new coal plants with a total capacity of 33 GW. This is almost three times more than all other developments around the world together. 92% of all new coal-related projects that have been announced are chinese.
14 other countries have also announced new coal projects though, including India, Indonesia, Zimbabwe and Turkey.
It is estimated that China’s coal capacity now is 365 GW. In comparison, the rest of the world has a capacity of 172 GW. But given the planned increase in capacity, China is set to gain more in future.
With this drive to increase coal capacity, China is swimming against the stream. Outside of China, the number of existing and planned coal stations has fallen.
Because China is building and planning so many new coal plants, the rest of the world has to increase the number of stations that are retired and close them quicker.
However, without China coming on board and giving up coal, it will be difficult for the world to avoid global warming to reach heights that will seriously harm our planet.
US Leads Way To Retiring Coal Stations
While China seems to go the other way, the rest of the world is still committed to moving to clean energy. The GEM report said that outside of China the number of coal plants continue to shrink, albeit at a slower rate than in previous years.
The US tops the list of countries retiring coal plants. In 2022, their generation of coal power fell by 13.5 GW, which accounts for half of the total decline worldwide, which was around 26 GW.
Furthermore, GEM’s research has shown that there are no new coal projects planned in North America, including in the US.
However, the EU is also still committed to retiring coal stations. In 2021, the bloc reduced its coal capacity by a record 14.6 GW. In 2022, there was only a decline of 2.2 GW in the Union, due to the Invasion of Ukraine, which caused a gas crisis.
As a result, seven EU countries, including Germany, Austria and the Netherlands, authorised the restarting or extension of the use of some coal plants. But these restarts and extensions are seen as temporary and GEM expects that the EU will continue to retire coal power in the future.
Progress in retiring coal power plants in rich countries and cancelling new coal power projects in developing countries, despite the gas crunch that shook global energy markets in 2022, is encouraging.
Lauri Myllyvirta, Lead Analyst for the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air
The GEM report also highlighted that there are no new coal projects planned in the EU. The same is true for North Africa.
There is only one new coal plant under construction in the Middle East, the Tabas plant in Iran. But the report said this is likely the last new coal plant in the region.
Other countries who have retired coal stations include Peru and the United Arab Emirates.
So while the world is still committed to phase out coal by 2040, it is disappointing that China has decided to go against this trend. Its plan is to reach carbon neutrality only by 2060, which could be too late to achieve climate targets.
