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China's government relies on coal if there is not enough electricity from renewable energies. Crea criticizes the fact that China rarely uses its coal-fired power plants flexibly in this way. (archive image)
Keystone
In the first half of 2025, China connected more coal-fired power to the grid than at any time in the last nine years. This is despite its rapid expansion of renewable energies.
According to an analysis by the Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air (Crea), the People's Republic connected power plants with a total capacity of 21 gigawatts - a record figure for the first half of the year since 2015.
According to the experts, a total of more than 80 gigawatts should be connected to the grid by 2025. The development of coal power in China shows no signs of slowing down and will continue to be part of the energy system for years to come, said analyst Christine Shearer in a statement.
At the same time, China is continuing to focus on green energy. For 2025, the Crea expects more than 500 gigawatts of wind and solar energy to be added. According to an analysis in the online specialist portal Carbon Brief, the expansion of green energy helped to reduce emissions of the climate-damaging greenhouse gas carbon dioxide in China by one percent in the first half of 2025 compared to the same period last year. The energy sector, the largest CO2 emitter, emitted three percent less carbon dioxide into the air during this period.
China's clean energy boom is driving economic growth and decarbonization, but the continued expansion of coal is also wasting investment, said Crea analyst Qi Qin. China's government relies on coal when there is not enough electricity from renewables. Crea criticizes the fact that China rarely uses its coal-fired power plants flexibly in this way.
According to Crea, Beijing approved new coal projects with a total capacity of 25 gigawatts in the first half of the year. In addition, new and revived applications account for 75 gigawatts. The analysts assume that the project sponsors want to use the window of opportunity until 2030. This is because China wants to have reached the peak of its CO2 emissions by then. It is also still unclear what energy and climate targets Beijing will set itself in the upcoming 15th Five-Year Plan for the years 2026 to 2030.
The world's second-largest economy is considered an important part of the global fight against climate change. The global community agreed a few years ago at the climate conference in Glasgow to phase out coal in favor of the climate - and has reaffirmed this several times since then. China is also at the table.
25.08.2025, 02:17
25.08.2025, 12:46
