Page 9 - AfrElec Week 38 2021

AfrElec COAL AfrElec

No new coal for China

AFRICA CHINA is to abandon financial support for the from coal in a bid to decarbonise their opera-
construction of new coal-fired power plants tions and to reduce emissions.
abroad as part of Beijing’s wider plans to reach Coal-fired power has recently been a key
net-zero emissions by 2060. issue for climate change, with the International
“China will step up support for other develop- Energy Agency (IEA) in May calling for no new
ing countries in developing green and low-car- coal power as the first major step for the world is
bon energy, and will not build new coal-fired to meet the goal of net emissions by 2050.
power projects abroad,” Chinese President Xi The IEA’ roadmap for the energy sector called
Jinping told the UN General Assembly in New for the immediate end to new investment in all
York on September 21. fossil fuel supply projects, and no further final
Global leaders welcomed the news, which investment decisions (FIDs) for new unabated
came on the same day that US President Joe coal plants.
Biden announced larger climate funding The roadmap called for annual additions of
pledges. solar PV capacity to reach 630 GW by 2030, and
“I welcome Xi’s announcement that China those of wind to attain 390 GW. Together, this is
would end financing of coal-fired power plants four times the record level set in 2020.
abroad and redirect support to green and It said these targets were needed as current
low-carbon energy,” said UN Secretary-General climate pledges made by various governments
António Guterres. would fall well short of what is required to bring
President Biden said he would seek to global energy-related carbon dioxide (CO2)
increase international public climate finance to emissions to net zero by 2050.
$11.4bn per year. The G7 has also called for an end in 2021 to
The announcement came a year after the the public financing of unabated coal projects
2020 UN General Assembly, when Xi told the abroad, which effectively allow emissions to be
world that China would become carbon-neutral exported to countries with less stringent emis-
by 2060, with CO2 emissions peaking in 2030. sions rules or climate goals such as Bangladesh,
China’s anti-coal stance has developed over Myanmar or Vietnam.
the past year. In April, China hinted at a develop- China now joins South Korea, Japan and
ing and anti-coal stance, saying that coal was no other G7 nations in committing to end interna-
longer a crucial baseload fuel, and that it would tional funding for coal.
not play such a dominant role in the future. Li A key issue for coal is that it is now being
Gao, the director-general of the Environment undercut by renewables such as wind and power
Ministry’s Climate Change Department, said in terms of price.
the country’s power plants would not run at full In June, the International Renewable Energy
capacity in future, even though coal would con- Association (IRENA) found that two thirds of
tinue to provide flexibility for the country’s grid. new renewable capacity proved to be cheaper
China is the world’s largest financial backer of than new fossil fuel-fired power generation in
coal-fired power plants, especially in emerging 2020, with 162 GW, or 62% of the total, of new
economies in Asia and Africa. green capacity undercutting coal or gas.
It has until now provided loans, trade guar- It said in a report that just 2020’s new renew-
antees and technical know-how, as well as EPC able additions would save emerging economies
contractors and indeed workforce, to a range of up to $156bn over their lifespan.
coal projects. Yet questions remain about China new pol-
China alone is home to almost 53% of the icy. It is already involved in major coal projects
capacity under construction and 55% of the in Asia, and it is not yet clear if Beijing will with-
pre-construction pipeline, recent research by draw from current projects, or if its power sta-
green think-tank E3G found. tion builders, EPC contractors and technology
China has, however, seen a 74% reduction in suppliers will no longer export abroad. Xi also
the scale of its project pipeline, with 484 GW of did not give any timeline for the ending of coal
cancellations since Paris in 2016. funding.
However, in recent years Western-based At home, China boasts 50% of the world’s
investors, both commercial and multilateral operating coal fleet, and efforts to rein in coal in
development banks (MDMs), have moved away its domestic market should also be ramped up.™

Week 38 23•September•2022 www. NEWSBASE .com P9