China Coal Power Building Boom Shocks BBC’s Matt McGrath!

By Paul Homewood

Once again I am stunned by the obtuseness of Matt McGrath, who appears genuinely surprised by the fact that China is continuing to massively expand its coal power sector:

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%.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-45640706

Perhaps if McGrath had bothered to actually read China’s INDC pledges for Paris, he would have discovered that they have absolutely no intention on reigning back the use of fossil fuels. Indeed their only goal is to continue growing their economy, which cannot be done without increasing emissions.