00:00China built more coal power plants in 2025 than it has in years, despite renewables already covering new energy demand.
00:08A Finland-based research group report shows that proposals for coal power projects in China surged to a record high last year.
00:17This could lock China into years of coal expansion beyond the needs of power demand and climate goals.
00:22The group says the spike reflects a rush by coal industry stakeholders to push projects through before tighter policies take effect.
00:31To learn more about what China's coal power expansion means for its energy transition, our reporter Lily Lapatino spoke to Qi Qin, one of the report's authors.
00:41In 2021, Chinese President Xi Jinping said that he would strictly regulate the coal industry to face it down between 2026 and 2030.
00:50Is Beijing staying true to its pledge?
00:52That pledge became much harder to sustain after 2021, because in 2021 and 2022, China experienced a sharp drop in hydropower output due to the droughts.
01:07At the same time, as coal prices were very high, and that combination led to real power shortages in several regions in China.
01:16And in response to that, many local governments prioritized approving new coal power capacity as a risk control measure, rather than accelerating reforms to improve system flexibility, which is a more effective way.
01:32If clean energy met all new power demand in 2025, why is China still building so much new coal capacity?
01:38Your report cites industry interests and outdated contracts.
01:41Can you explain this?
01:42In some Western coal abundant provinces, coal and coal power companies, they see the period before 2030 as a closing window to secure new projects before the carbon peaking, before constraints tightening further.
01:57And in the Eastern and more industrialized provinces, there's also a desire to reduce reliance on imported power from other regions.
02:06So that's why we've seen the co-power permitting in both Western provinces and Eastern provinces.
02:14And also at the local level, the new coal power projects still bring tax revenues, jobs, and also short-term economic activity.
02:24So these incentives, they don't always align well with what the power system actually needs today.
02:30Now, how does China's build-out compare to other economies, and what signal does this send to others that are watching China's energy strategy?
02:38China already operates the world's largest coal power fleet.
02:42In 2025 alone, the amount of coal power capacity commissioned in China exceeded the net increase in India added over roughly in the past decade, in the past 10 years.
02:54And India has the second largest coal power fleet in the world.
02:59So in many other countries, in many other economies, coal additions are much more limited and are often directly tied to demand growth.
03:08But in China's case, the issue is less about demand and now more about how the system is planned.
03:14But without a clear signal to face down the coal power, there could be the space left for clean energy would be very limited.
03:29You know, the coal power could be locked in the system for a long time.
03:33That was Qi Xin from the Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air.
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