China is considered a pioneer in renewable energy and wants to become climate neutral by 2060 – on the one hand. On the other hand, the country continues to expand coal mines. How does this fit in?
Solar panels as far as the eye can see. One of the world’s largest solar power plants is being built in the Kubuqi desert in Inner Mongolia, northern China. Interview requests are gladly accepted for the Chinese flagship project. This generally doesn’t happen that often when it comes to queries from Chinese authorities. A representative from the local energy administration described the plans to ARD: There will be a capacity of nine gigawatts by 2025, according to Zhong Yuzhan. The area is expected to grow to almost 20,000 hectares by then.
China is considered a global pioneer in the field of renewable energy. The country has installed as many solar systems as the rest of the world combined. According to official data, 28% of China’s electricity generation came from wind, water and solar energy last year. This is the side of the Chinese energy transition that China likes to show.
But there is also the other side, the uninterrupted dependence on coal. Currently, capacities are not being reduced, but rather expanded. About 60 percent of electricity generation in 2022 came from coal.
Dozens of coal-fired thermal power plants are being planned
The People’s Republic wants to become climate neutral by 2060. China causes almost a third of all global emissions. Whether the 1.5 degree target agreed in the Paris Agreement of the 2015 UN Climate Convention can be implemented as maximum global warming therefore largely depends on Chinese climate policy.
An analysis by the Finnish Center for Energy Research and Global Energy Monitor shows: There are new coal projects across the country, capacities are being greatly expanded and dozens of coal-fired power plants are planned. Even where there is already a lot of coal mining.
Coal production gives a boost
A few kilometers from the mega solar park in the Kubuqi desert in Inner Mongolia, several red trucks transport coal on lonely roads that wind through the arid landscape. For decades, coal mining has provided a certain amount of wealth in Inner Mongolia. There’s not much more to the local gross domestic product. Sheep, cows, a little farming and a lot of open pit mining. You can also see this in the neighboring southern part of the country, in Shaanxi.
A new coal mine is being built in a small village in Shaanxi. Many more new businesses have suddenly appeared here in the last two years. A restaurant owner tells ARD how much she feels the impulse.
Your business is doing very well. “Now that there are some coal mines, the traffic is more intense. A lot of people pass by. Many who work at the mine are not from the area, many come from other places,” she says.
New business thanks to coal mine: The small village of Shaanxi in central China is flourishing again.
Beijing is committed to energy security
The official Chinese state and party leadership justification for coal expansion: energy security. There have been repeated shortages due to heat waves; Sometimes hydroelectric plants did not have enough water to produce enough electricity.
The second most populous country in the world, with 1.4 billion inhabitants, needs a lot of energy. With the rapid economic growth of recent decades, the demand for electricity has also grown. Some energy experts say China could reach its goal of reducing carbon emissions by 2030 sooner. The question then would be: How long will it remain at this level?
Climate neutrality by 2060?
China officially recognizes climate change, hence its goal of becoming climate neutral in the long term – by 2060. But the increasing number of natural disasters and extreme weather events are generally not associated with man-made climate change in the world. Chinese state communications.
This year, the People’s Republic has been affected by both massive floods and dry heat with record temperatures. The reason given was that the El Niño climate phenomenon in Latin America, which occurs every few years, was responsible for the extreme weather conditions. There is no mention of the fact that, according to research by international experts, the El Niño meteorological phenomenon itself could become more extreme due to climate change.
Experts: China can achieve its goal
Guan Dabo is a professor at Tsinghua University in Beijing. It addresses the consequences of climate change and advises, among other things, China and the EU on how they can better work together on climate issues.
“China suffered numerous heat waves last year and the year before that,” he says. “These are the effects of climate change on us.” At present, China still needs to learn from Western countries such as Germany, European countries and the United States to adapt to climate change, said Guang Dabo. “China’s measures are not yet perfect. Addressing climate change is a long-term issue.”
Guan Dabo is convinced that the Chinese state and party leadership can achieve its self-imposed goal of climate neutrality by 2060. Many experts outside of China agree with this. However, many are concerned about the current expansion of coal power.
Environmentalists: Coal energy is essential as a transition
Ma Jun is one of China’s best-known environmentalists. He believes coal power cannot be dismissed as a transition, if only to ensure energy security while renewables come online. But he advises restraint on all new coal projects and focuses on future innovations in renewable energy:
“Of course there are other ways to better integrate them into our power grid,” said Ma Jun. “One of them is, of course, energy storage. The other is about all these different regional power grids, which can be better coordinated .”
The wind and many sunny days in the north of the country, in Inner Mongolia, are an important asset for China’s energy transition. In the vastness of the desert, for example, there is still room for the solar megapark to grow. But the problem raised by environmentalist Ma Jun can also be seen here: electricity still does not leave the borders of Inner Mongolia, it remains in this part of the country. Questioned by ARD, the solar park manager said:
“Our next step is to connect.” They are working to supply that electricity to the part of the country around Beijing, he says. So far, China remains both: a pioneer in solar and wind energy, but also a sinner in coal.
Marie von Mallinckrodt, ARD Beijing, tagesschau, December 2, 2023, 6:05 am