China coal plant approvals plunge as green power grows: Study

China approved the building of nine gigawatts (GW) of coal power generation in the first half of 2024, down by more than 80 per cent compared with a year earlier as the nation adds renewable energy capacity in record amounts, according to a study published on Aug 22.

- David Fogarty

China is the world's top renewable energy investor and has been adding ever-growing amounts of wind and solar capacity.

It added 134.5GW of renewable energy capacity in the first six months of 2024, a 25 per cent year-on-year increase, according to Australian think-tank Climate EnergyFinance and China's National Bureau of Statistics. Wind and solar comprised 128GW of this total.

In 2023, China accounted for more than half of the world's new wind and solar installations.

"The steep drop in new coal plant permits is a hopeful sign that China's massive solar and wind builds are dampening its coal ambitions," said the report's co-author Christine Shearer, research analyst at Global Energy Monitor (GEM), which tracks fossil fuel and renewable energy projects worldwide.

GEM and the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (Crea), a research organisation registered in Finland and which has offices across Asia and Europe, conducted the study.

China's energy investment trends are closely watched because the nation is the world's largest source of greenhouse gas emissions heating up the planet. The world cannot win the battle against climate change without China slashing fossil fuel use and emissions.