China is still building new coal-powered generation capacity abroad despite a pledge made in 2021 to stop it and focus on transition technology.
According to a new report by climate think tank Global Energy Monitor, China is involved in 88% of new coal power capacity projects in the new BRICS members. [emphasis, links added]
“Chinese firms are backing 7.7 GW of new coal, virtually all found in Indonesia, despite President Xi’s pledge to end support for overseas coal projects,” Global Energy Monitor said.
Yet China is also backing a lot of transition capacity, accounting for about half of the solar power capacity under construction, or 947 MW, as well as close to 90% of wind power capacity, or 601 MW.
The new BRICS members are Indonesia, Belarus, Bolivia, Kazakhstan, Cuba, Malaysia, Thailand, Uganda, Uzbekistan, and Nigeria.
New power generation projects across the new BRICS members are mostly hydrocarbon forms of capacity, the climate think tank also reported, noting that the total oil, gas, and coal capacity under construction across the 10 new members amounts to 25 GW.
Wind and solar capacity under construction, on the other hand, stands at a measly 2.3 GW.
Close to two-thirds of all the new capacity under construction in the new BRICS members, hydrocarbon and alternative, features Chinese state-owned companies, Global Energy Monitor also reported.
“There’s a real risk of sending these countries down the wrong path by investing in coal, gas, and oil,” Global Energy Monitor’s project manager for the think tank’s Global Integrated Power Tracker told Reuters.
Read rest at OilPrice.com
Only the ignorant fools in the west (Europe, Australia, Canada, and blue states in the US) are continuing to plow forward with “green energy” while closing coal plants. We just saw in Portugal and Spain what happens when you try to switch to wind and solar for too much of their electricity–blackouts. It got even more attention due to the high level tennis tournament in Madrid with matches delayed due to lack of power rather than weather.