China Greenlighting Far Fewer Coal Plants

China appears to be tapping the brakes on coal. The amount of new coal power approved so far this year is down 80 percent from the same period in 2023.

From January through June, Chinese officials permitted 10.3 gigawatts of new coal capacity, far less than the 50.4 gigawatts approved in the first half of last year, according to an analysis from Greenpeace and the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies.

While China is bullish on renewables — it is currently building twice as much wind and solar as the rest of the world combined — officials have been looking to coal to meet demand when solar and wind are in short supply. Over the last two years, China has permitted 197.1 gigawatts of new coal capacity, though the power sector may now be at a turning point, analysts say.

“One question remains here. Are Chinese provinces slowing down coal approvals because they’ve already approved so many coal projects?” asked Gao Yuhe, project lead for Greenpeace East Asia. “Or are these the last gasps of coal power in an energy transition that has seen coal become increasingly impractical? Only time can tell.”

So far this year, wind and solar generation has roughly equaled coal generation in China. With renewables set to further displace coal, it is possible that Chinese emissions peaked last year. But barriers remain to bringing more wind and solar online. China needs to build new transmission lines to convey clean power from where it is produced to where it is needed, so as to meet demand without ramping up coal power.

While China plans to equip coal power plants, old and new, with technology to cut emissions, analysts say that, to reach its climate goals, the world’s biggest emitter should focus on upgrading its grid. “Amid powerful wind and solar growth, connecting these new energy sources to China’s old, outdated grid remains a hurdle,” Gao said. “Any money spent building new coal power plants should really be spent improving renewable grid connectivity.”