Everyone knows that China suffers from major problems when it comes to pollution. But, you have to give the Chinese credit where it’s due also, and their recent efforts have proved they are making a significant stance towards turning around the devastating effects of climate change damage. This month the Chinese government forced 104 coal-fired projects in development across 13 provinces to stop. Totaling 120 gigawatts altogether, which amounts to over a third of the United States’ total coal capacity, this is a fantastic effort from China in fighting climate change.
Considering that for years China has been the leading country in producing carbon dioxide emissions, it’s no real surprise that they’ve finally taken a stand to do something drastic about it. They have for a while been trying to cut down their coal use and change to alternative forms of energy, but this is by far one of the single, largest efforts so far. China’s coal consumption has been falling over the past few years even though in 2013 they were still using as much as the rest of the world put together. Much of the decline in coal use has been partly because of a significant economic slowdown, but also because of the slow output in industries such as steel and cement which accounted for around half China’s total coal consumption.
Experts say the decline in coal use is not temporary either. Energy demand is expected to slow as the Chinese economy becomes more focused on hospitals and retails shops rather than steel and cement plants. But this is no real surprise as their pledge as part of the Paris climate treaty was to generate at least 20 percent of the country’s total energy from low carbon sources by 2030. This will be helped by the government’s plans to install an additional 130 gigawatts of solar and wind power in the next three years. And also by the cap that Chinese officials have put on coal capacity, hence the canceling of over 100 coal projects currently in development across the country. But, still needs to be done if there is any hope of turning climate change around, and only time will tell to see if China (and the rest of the world) can pull it off.
Related Links;
- China’s post-coal growth
- Nuclear growth revealed in China’s new Five-Year Plan
- The real war on coal is happening in China right now
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