China: coal remains indispensable, despite investments in renewables
News of record installations of so-called renewable energy electricity generation in China may have raised the hopes of those who support the “green” agenda and are hostile to fossil fuels. However, China is unable to give up hydrocarbons, especially coal.
In the first half of 2023, China approved 52 gigawatts (GW) of new coal-fired power, more than all approvals issued in 2021. These new approvals are in addition to the 136 GW of coal-fired capacity already under construction. Together, these new facilities account for more than 67% of all new approvals worldwide.
Why is China doing this despite climate commitments? And what does the future hold for us?
The Paris climate agreement? Goodbye!
In 2015, nearly all countries signed the historic Paris Agreement, which set aggressive goals to keep global warming below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. Obviously half the countries were doing crossbreeding. The assumption was that reducing carbon dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuels would halt future warming that was deemed catastrophic.
As part of this agreement, China, the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases, agreed to achieve carbon neutrality by 2060 and to peak its carbon dioxide emissions by 2030. Many have praised these promises, celebrating China's apparent acceptance of its supposed responsibility to address the climate problem.
But these promises are at odds with reality. China's economy is primarily based on fossil fuels, which are the cheapest, most abundant and most reliable source of energy. At 159 exajoules, China's primary energy consumption in 2022 was the highest in the world and 40% higher than that of the United States, the second largest consumer.
Last year, 82% of China's total energy consumption came from coal, oil and natural gas. Wind and solar, despite Beijing's significant investments, accounted for just 7% of all energy consumed in 2022 .
Coal remains the linchpin of China's energy infrastructure and economic vitality. According to China's National Bureau of Statistics, coal consumption increased by more than 4% in 2022. Coal imports in August 2023 were the highest since 2015. China is increasing imports from Russia and China. Australia and continues to increase imports from Indonesia, which is its main supplier.
Recently on Scenari we reported that China is producing a record quantity of coal, precisely to meet the ever-increasing demand.
More than 1 billion tons of crude steel are produced in China every year, accounting for more than half of the world's steel production. China's steel industries, more than 90%, use coal-based processes.
Despite introducing a policy to curb carbon dioxide emissions in 2021, Beijing has not yet announced any caps on steel production. S&P Global believes “there will be no mandatory cuts in steel production this year.” Crude steel production in 2023 will exceed 2022 levels. However, steel is produced almost exclusively from coal, so a sharp increase in the use of coal is to be expected.
According to the Clean Air and Energy Research Center , “Chinese steel enterprises are making significant investments in new coal-fired steel capacity.” To put this into context, China's approval of new steel capacity per year is equal to double the entire capacity of the German steel industry.
Like steel production, cement production is also energy intensive, with coal accounting for up to 85% of the energy used in the process. China is the largest producer and consumer of cement in the world.
According to analysts, “China consumes an amount of cement every two years equal to that consumed by the United States in the entire 20th century”. Cement production is expected to increase further in the coming years and the high demand is likely to last for decades.
In short, China's security and economic growth depend on satiating the country's colossal appetite for fossil fuels. Western policies on a non-existent climate crisis won't change things. They will just be useless efforts.
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The article China: coal remains indispensable, despite investments in renewables comes from Economic Scenarios .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/cina-il-carbone-resta-indispensabile-nonostante-gli-investimenti-nelle-rinnovabili/ on Fri, 24 Nov 2023 16:41:43 +0000.