• Image Credit: Google

• Sep 24, 2022 | Guriya Khatun

The Chinese President is chewing on those comments this year, though, as China announced in April 2022 that it would increase its already world-record-holding production levels of coal by 300 million tonnes.

Digital Desk: At the Leaders' Summit on Climate Change in April of last year, President Xi Jinping made a vow that Beijing would restrict coal-fired power generation projects and limit the growth in coal consumption over the term of the 14th Five-Year Plan, between 2021 and 2025.

In addition to rigorously limiting the growth in coal consumption over the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025) and phasing it down in the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-2030), he had stated that China will strictly restrict coal-fired power generation projects.

The Chinese President is chewing on those comments this year, though, as China announced in April 2022 that it would increase its already world-record-holding production levels of coal by 300 million tonnes.

It should be noted that China's five-year plans serve as the main guidelines for the country's economic objectives, development initiatives, and broad changes during the following five years.

However, China has been obliged to alter its stated policy regarding coal and coal-fired power plants barely a year into the 14th Five-Year Plan, which Xi Jinping is thought to have specified.

Xi "personally made adjustments, approved the wording, and has put in a large amount of effort on it" during the plan's writing phase, according to Han Wenxiu, deputy head of the Office of the Central Finance and Economic Commission.

With this, it is unavoidable to conclude that Xi is aware of the fact that he overestimated China's capacity to shift away from coal in 2021, according to The Hong Kong Post.

According to a story in The Hong Kong Post quoting Greenpeace's Beijing office, China has approved the building of 8.63 gigatonnes (GW) of new coal-fired power plants between January and March 2022, in addition to increasing coal mining capacity this year.

The environmental organisation estimates that the additional capacity created in just over three months will be equal to 46% of the total increased capacity allowed in 2021.

The growth in coal is related to a new wave of rhetoric that emphasises energy security, according to Wu Jinghan, a climate, and energy campaigner in Greenpeace East Asia's Beijing office.

Ironically, China's "energy conundrum emerged in part because China relied on coal," Wu remarked as stated by The Hon Kong Post. "Instead of a constant source of energy, energy security has become a code phrase for coal."

Despite this, the government has increased its discourse on "energy security." The coal sector appears to be operating normally once more.

The majority of the world was shocked—and even happy—when China announced in September 2021 that it would no longer finance coal-fired power plants outside of China.

Interested parties should read the entire 14th Five-Year Plan, which outlines China's growth plan until 2025, before interpreting that policy too broadly.

"This mentality of guaranteeing energy security has become prevalent, trumping carbon neutrality," said Li Shuo, a senior global policy consultant for Greenpeace.

Chinese banks are funding more than 70% of the world's coal power facilities as part of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). It should be highlighted that China asserts that the BRI increases environmental protection and encourages green development, but in practise, none of this is true.