Singapore — China has been seen restarting construction of coal-fired power plants last year even as there has been a global decline in capacity additions using the fossil-fuel, according to a report released Thursday.

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This comes despite China's continued efforts to cut reliance on the fossil fuel amid its fight against air pollution.

Last week, the country's state fund, the State Development & Investment Corp, vowed to shift away from funding new thermal power business.

"In 2018, satellite photos showed ongoing construction at a number of project sites previously reported as suspended under central government restrictions," the joint report by Global Energy Monitor, Sierra Club and Greenpeace said.

Earlier this month, the China Electricity Council, which represents China's power sector proposed capping the country's coal-fired power generation at 1,300 gigawatts in 2030.

Titled 'Boom and Bust 2019', the report said this would allow the country to increase its coal power capacity by 290 GW above current levels -- more than the entire US coal fleet of 259 GW.

"The change would allow hundreds of new coal plants to be added, including plants that had been suspended under central government restrictions," it said.

"Overall, global capacity under construction has fallen 30% since 2015, when 338 GW was being built," it said.

The report noted that in addition to the resumed construction in China, there was a total of 28 GW of coal-fired power capacity that began construction last year, compared with 46 GW that began construction in 2017, a decline of 39%.

New construction was concentrated in eleven countries, primarily China, followed by Japan with 2.7 GW of new coal power capacity, India with 2.4 GW, Indonesia with 2 GW, Vietnam with 1.3 GW, and Poland with 1 GW, the report said.

-- Hui Min Lee, hui.min.lee@spglobal.com

-- Edited by Norazlina Jumaat, newsdesk@spglobal.com