"How China addresses the apparent contradiction between its massive coal-fired build-out plans and its net-zero emissions plan may become one of the biggest challenges in efforts to limit the rise in global temperatures and meet climate targets," Reuters said. While China should be cutting coal use to meet the looming deadlines, it has been adding new coal power plants at the rate of about one per week, the environmental research group Carbon Brief said last month.
Worldwide coal power generation fell 4 percent last year during the COVID-19 pandemic, but China increased its coal- fired output by 1.7 percent, making it the only G20 country to record a significant rise, the London-based group Ember said in its annual electricity review. The Global Energy Monitor (GEM) reported similar data and the identical trend in its "Boom and Bust 2021" report this month.
