Snapshot
Chinese leaders are “doubling down on fossil fuels” amid “growing” fears of global energy shortages and “rising” concerns of an economic slump, according to Bloomberg. The news came after the Chinese government repeatedly underlined the importance of energy security at a series of key political meetings last week.
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Meanwhile, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said last week that China was the main driving force behind a global CO2 emissions “rebound” past pre-pandemic levels. Separately, an energy advisor to the Chinese government told state TV that China’s CO2 emissions had grown by 350m tonnes last year, more than double the average annual increase in recent years.
In other news, China’s “raw coal” production reached 687m tonnes in the first two months of this year, up 10.3% compared to the same period last year, according to official data from China. The rise followed Beijing’s campaign to “ramp up production for the winter heating season”, Reuters reported.
WHAT: This week, Bloomberg’s newsletter analysed how and why China has fallen back to fossil fuels, particularly coal, in its recent energy policy. The analysis – written by Bloomberg’s climate reporter Karoline Kan – said that Chinese leaders are “doubling down on fossil fuels” out of “growing” fears of global energy shortages and “rising concerns” of a Covid-sparked economic slump. It read: “Faced with turmoil, China is returning to its old habit of coal, no matter what damage it does to climate momentum.” (Read the web version of the newsletter.)
HOW: According to Bloomberg, China has pushed for coal in two ways in recent months. One was a narrative “shift” that stressed coal’s importance in “ensuring continued growth”, the outlet said. The other was new approvals of coal mines and coal-fired power projects “even as such efforts are shunned in most other parts of the world”, it noted.
WHEN: Bloomberg’s analysis came hot on the heels of China’s “two sessions”, a series of key political meetings that took place in Beijing last week. At the conferences, the government included the term
“shuang tan” – meaning “dual carbon” in a nod to China’s carbon-peaking and carbon neutrality goals – in its annual work report for the first time, signifying nationwide efforts towards the objectives, according to the state broadcaster CCTV. However, the leadership also repeatedly underscored the importance of ensuring energy security and stable coal production and supply. (Last week’s China Briefing analysed the messages coming out of the “two sessions”.)
WHO: The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the state economic planner, stressed energy security again in China’s economic and social development plan for 2022, which was approved at the “two sessions”. According to the plan, energy security is the “precondition” of stable “low-carbon” development and the “support” for hitting the five-year energy intensity target from 2021 to 2025. Liu Hongqiao – an independent consultant and former China specialist at Carbon Brief – analysed the economic plan in her newsletter last week. Liu wrote that “energy security, framed as a ‘mounting’ economic risk and a national security issue, is given a level of priority on the government’s agenda higher than ever before”.
INTERPRETATION: Prof Du Xiangwan – the deputy head of an energy advisory team to the Chinese government – interpreted China’s coal policy on the state broadcaster last Saturday. Prof Du said that China’s coal consumption would likely “still increase” in the 14th five-year plan (FYP) period from 2021 to 2025, even though there would be “strict” control. (Read Carbon Brief’s assessment of China’s 14FYP.) This is because growth in non-fossil energy is not yet large enough to cover incremental increases in demand. Prof Du predicted that renewable energy would “start to” replace coal power in meeting non-incremental energy demand in the 15FYP period from 2026 to 2030, but “the replacement [volume] would not be great”. He added that renewable energy should be able to replace coal power “relatively safely and reliably from 2030” when the former would have developed rapidly for more than a decade. (More on Prof Du’s interview in the next development.)
SIGNIFICANCE: Speaking of China’s recent coal push, Qin Yan – carbon analyst at Refinitiv, a “provider of financial markets data and infrastructure” – told Bloomberg’s Karoline Kan that “one of the biggest challenges” for China to get to net-zero “is a mindset shift”. Qin said that “giving the power back to coal now only makes the shift…harder to complete”.
QUOTES: Byford Tsang – senior policy advisor at E3G, a climate change thinktank – told Carbon Brief that, “strictly speaking”, China “is not walking back on its target” with its recent drive for coal. But Tsang pointed out that “any additional fossil fuel is going to be stranded asset because it is not going to run the full course of the lifetime if we are to meet the peaking and neutrality goals, or getting China’s emission trajectory in line with the 1.5C target under the Paris Agreement”. He noted that the coal boost “might not have a big impact” on China meeting its carbon-peaking target, but it will make its net-zero transition “more costly”. He added that “the local economy will rely more on fossil fuels and it is going to make it harder to move away”.
https://www.carbonbrief.org/china-b...co2-emissions-increase-coal-production-growth
Chinese leaders are “doubling down on fossil fuels” amid “growing” fears of global energy shortages and “rising” concerns of an economic slump, according to Bloomberg. The news came after the Chinese government repeatedly underlined the importance of energy security at a series of key political meetings last week.
上微信关注《碳简报》
Meanwhile, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said last week that China was the main driving force behind a global CO2 emissions “rebound” past pre-pandemic levels. Separately, an energy advisor to the Chinese government told state TV that China’s CO2 emissions had grown by 350m tonnes last year, more than double the average annual increase in recent years.
In other news, China’s “raw coal” production reached 687m tonnes in the first two months of this year, up 10.3% compared to the same period last year, according to official data from China. The rise followed Beijing’s campaign to “ramp up production for the winter heating season”, Reuters reported.
WHAT: This week, Bloomberg’s newsletter analysed how and why China has fallen back to fossil fuels, particularly coal, in its recent energy policy. The analysis – written by Bloomberg’s climate reporter Karoline Kan – said that Chinese leaders are “doubling down on fossil fuels” out of “growing” fears of global energy shortages and “rising concerns” of a Covid-sparked economic slump. It read: “Faced with turmoil, China is returning to its old habit of coal, no matter what damage it does to climate momentum.” (Read the web version of the newsletter.)
HOW: According to Bloomberg, China has pushed for coal in two ways in recent months. One was a narrative “shift” that stressed coal’s importance in “ensuring continued growth”, the outlet said. The other was new approvals of coal mines and coal-fired power projects “even as such efforts are shunned in most other parts of the world”, it noted.
WHEN: Bloomberg’s analysis came hot on the heels of China’s “two sessions”, a series of key political meetings that took place in Beijing last week. At the conferences, the government included the term
“shuang tan” – meaning “dual carbon” in a nod to China’s carbon-peaking and carbon neutrality goals – in its annual work report for the first time, signifying nationwide efforts towards the objectives, according to the state broadcaster CCTV. However, the leadership also repeatedly underscored the importance of ensuring energy security and stable coal production and supply. (Last week’s China Briefing analysed the messages coming out of the “two sessions”.)
WHO: The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the state economic planner, stressed energy security again in China’s economic and social development plan for 2022, which was approved at the “two sessions”. According to the plan, energy security is the “precondition” of stable “low-carbon” development and the “support” for hitting the five-year energy intensity target from 2021 to 2025. Liu Hongqiao – an independent consultant and former China specialist at Carbon Brief – analysed the economic plan in her newsletter last week. Liu wrote that “energy security, framed as a ‘mounting’ economic risk and a national security issue, is given a level of priority on the government’s agenda higher than ever before”.
INTERPRETATION: Prof Du Xiangwan – the deputy head of an energy advisory team to the Chinese government – interpreted China’s coal policy on the state broadcaster last Saturday. Prof Du said that China’s coal consumption would likely “still increase” in the 14th five-year plan (FYP) period from 2021 to 2025, even though there would be “strict” control. (Read Carbon Brief’s assessment of China’s 14FYP.) This is because growth in non-fossil energy is not yet large enough to cover incremental increases in demand. Prof Du predicted that renewable energy would “start to” replace coal power in meeting non-incremental energy demand in the 15FYP period from 2026 to 2030, but “the replacement [volume] would not be great”. He added that renewable energy should be able to replace coal power “relatively safely and reliably from 2030” when the former would have developed rapidly for more than a decade. (More on Prof Du’s interview in the next development.)
SIGNIFICANCE: Speaking of China’s recent coal push, Qin Yan – carbon analyst at Refinitiv, a “provider of financial markets data and infrastructure” – told Bloomberg’s Karoline Kan that “one of the biggest challenges” for China to get to net-zero “is a mindset shift”. Qin said that “giving the power back to coal now only makes the shift…harder to complete”.
QUOTES: Byford Tsang – senior policy advisor at E3G, a climate change thinktank – told Carbon Brief that, “strictly speaking”, China “is not walking back on its target” with its recent drive for coal. But Tsang pointed out that “any additional fossil fuel is going to be stranded asset because it is not going to run the full course of the lifetime if we are to meet the peaking and neutrality goals, or getting China’s emission trajectory in line with the 1.5C target under the Paris Agreement”. He noted that the coal boost “might not have a big impact” on China meeting its carbon-peaking target, but it will make its net-zero transition “more costly”. He added that “the local economy will rely more on fossil fuels and it is going to make it harder to move away”.
https://www.carbonbrief.org/china-b...co2-emissions-increase-coal-production-growth