China is a totalitarian state. What Chaiman Xi wants he usually gets. But it seems that local governments have decided to restart 100’s of coal plants supposed to be closed to improve the abysmal air quality of Chinese cities. Because this is a totally secretive government we don’t really know why:
Building work has restarted at hundreds of Chinese coal-fired power stations, according to an analysis of satellite imagery.
The research, carried out by green campaigners CoalSwarm, suggests that 259 gigawatts of new capacity are under development in China.
The authors say this is the same capacity to produce electricity as the entire US coal fleet.
The study says government attempts to cancel many plants have failed.
According to this study, there was a surge in new coal projects approved at provincial level in China between 2014 and 2016. This happened because of a decentralisation programme that shifted authority over coal plant construction approvals to local authorities.
The report says that at present China has 993 gigawatts of coal power capacity, but the approved new plants would increase this by 25%.
www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-45640706
notalotofpeopleknowthat.wordpres…t-mcgrath/
“The Paris agreement gives two of the world’s top carbon emitters, India and China, pretty much a free pass on carbon reduction. China is allowed to continuously increase its emissions until 2030.”
Rich Nations Vowed Billions for Climate Change. Poor Countries Are Waiting.
h/t Natura Naturans