Not all fossil fuels are created equal. Carbon dioxide emissions per unit of energy generated are twice as high for coal as for natural gas, and the air pollution impact is an order of magnitude higher. As such, reigning in coal use is a major ongoing project for China, a country where, as recently as 2007, over 80 percent of generated electricity came from coal sources. https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/EG.ELC.COAL.ZS?locations=CN

In the 15-year period from 2007 to 2022, coal’s share of the power mix was reduced from 81 percent to 56 percent, (https://www.reuters.com/world/china/china-cut-coal-use-share-below-56-2021-2021-04-22/) putting it in the same range as Australia – a country which could and should have begun its low-carbon transition decades ago, and which has a per capita coal production figure eight times higher than China.(https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/coal-prod-per-capita) Various commentators have pointed out that China continues to build new coal-fired power plants; however, these are almost invariably modern, cleaner and more efficient replacements for existing plants.

In 2017, China’s National Energy Administration cancelled plans to build more than 100 coal-fired power plants, in order to divert power generation efforts into the renewable sector. This will eliminate 120 gigawatts of future coal-fired capacity. (https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/18/world/asia/china-coal-power-plants-pollution.html) Beijing closed its last coal-fired plant in 2017.(https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2080270/beijing-shuts-down-its-last-coal-fired-power-plant-part-bid-clear) One particularly symbolic project is a giant floating solar farm – the largest in the world – on top of a former coal mine in Anhui.(https://www.businessinsider.com/china-floating-solar-farm-coal-mine-renewable-energy-2018-1?r=UK) Datong, China’s “coal capital” is seeking to put its coal reserves to better use: producing hydrogen for use in emissions-free hydrogen-powered vehicles and electricity storage.(http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/201908/25/WS5d6239d5a310cf3e35567b9b.html)

Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian reported in July 2022 that:

By the end of last month, the share of coal-fired power in China’s installed power capacity dropped to a historic low of under 50 percent; total emissions of the coal-fired power industries reduced by nearly 90 percent over a decade; coal consumption by power generation units has been slashed, saving over 700 million tonnes of raw coal over the past decade. (https://www.fmprc.gov.cn/mfa_eng/xwfw_665399/s2510_665401/2511_665403/202207/t20220728_10729508.html)

The drop in coal consumption has already had a noticeable impact in the big cities. The New York Times observed that, in the period from 2014 to 2018, Chinese cities cut concentrations of atmospheric fine particulates by an average of 34 percent.(https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/12/upshot/china-pollution-environment-longer-lives.html) Beijing in the 1990s was among the most polluted cities in the world, but due to a decade-long ‘war on pollution’, its air quality index has improved by 50 percent.(https://aqli.epic.uchicago.edu/news/pollution-in-beijing-is-down-by-half-since-the-last-olympics-adding-four-years-onto-lives/) In 2019, Beijing dropped out of the list of the 200 most-polluted cities.(https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-pollution-beijing/beijing-set-to-exit-list-of-worlds-top-200-most-polluted-cities-data-idUSKCN1VX05Z) Writing in 2012, Martin Jacques talks about China having 16 of the world’s 20 worst-polluted cities. A decade later, only two Chinese cities are on the list. (https://www.hindustantimes.com/environment/these-are-20-most-polluted-cities-in-the-world-rajasthan-city-tops-the-list-101647954069826.html)

Although it will take China many more years to completely phase out coal, it has already announced that it will not finance any new coal-fired power plants abroad. Meanwhile, US-based analysts KJ Noh and Michael Wong note that the bulk of China’s coal plants are now “advanced supercritical or ultra-supercritical plants, which means they are much more efficient and cleaner than many of the industrial-era legacy plants of the US”.(https://asiatimes.com/2021/11/china-offers-solutions-to-climate-change/)

While reducing its use of coal, China is rapidly becoming the first “renewable energy superpower”,(https://www.forbes.com/sites/dominicdudley/2019/01/11/china-renewable-energy-superpower/?sh=d00df01745a2) accounting for 46 percent of new solar and wind power generating capacity in 2021.(https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2022/06/state-of-renewable-energy-2022/) International energy analyst Tim Buckley observes that China is the world leader in “wind and solar installation, in wind and solar manufacturing, in electric vehicle production, in batteries, in hydro, in nuclear, in ground heat pumps, in grid transmission and distribution, and in green hydrogen.” In summary, “they literally lead the world in every zero-emissions technology today.”(https://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/what-if-china-saved-the-world-and-nobody-noticed-20220818-p5bavz.html)

China is responsible for around a third of global renewable energy investment, and 28 percent of its electricity is already generated from renewable sources (compared to 20 percent for the US).(https://www.grid.news/story/global/2022/08/17/china-is-beating-the-us-in-clean-energy-can-america-catch-up-the-race-in-five-charts/) Out of 12.7 million jobs in the renewables industry worldwide, 42 percent (over five million) are in China.(https://english.news.cn/20220922/45a980ba9b5241699694b1f29d1f951e/c.html) The Chinese government has set itself the target of getting renewable energy sources (including solar, wind, nuclear and hydropower) to 33 percent of its total energy mix by 2025.(https://www.reuters.com/business/sustainable-business/china-says-third-electricity-will-come-renewables-by-2025-2022-06-01/)Non-fossil energy sources are set to supply 50% of China’s electric power generation by 2030. (https://www.brookings.edu/2018/05/18/utility-of-renewable-energy-in-chinas-low-carbon-transition/)

Quoted from “The east is still red”.