China must end the construction of all new coal-fired power plants to meet long-term climate goals in the most economically feasible manner, a study coauthored by a government-backed research institute said on Monday.
China’s energy strategy over the next decade is under close scrutiny as it aims to bring climate warming carbon emissions to a peak by 2030 to fulfill a pledge made as part of the 2015 Paris agreement, but with economic growth at its slowest pace in nearly 30 years, Beijing has continued to approve new coal-fired plants, raising fears the world’s biggest producer of greenhouse gases is backtracking on its commitments.
Beijing is capable of phasing out coal to help meet a global target to keep temperature rises to 1.5°C by 2050, but only if it embarks on a “structured and sustainable” closure strategy to minimize the economic impact, says the study by Chinese government researchers and the University of Maryland Center for Global Sustainability.
The report said that China must first end new construction, then rapidly close older and inefficient plants.
China has more than 1,000 gigawatts of coal-fired power, accounting for about 60 percent of total installed generation capacity.
“Well-designed policies can help lower the cost of coal-power deep decarbonization,” said Jiang Kejun (姜克雋), research professor with the government-backed Energy Research Institute.
China should also change the role of coal-fired power in its energy system. By reducing the total operating hours of each plant, China could make coal-fired power a “peak load” supplier during periods of high electricity consumption, rather than the main “baseload” power source.
Beijing promised last year to show the “highest possible ambition” when drawing up new climate pledges for the coming decade, but it has built 42.9 gigawatts of new coal-fired power capacity since the start of 2018, with another 121 gigawatts under construction.
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