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  • Climate & Energy

    Study on Economics of Coal-fired Power Generation Projects in China Report

    After analyzing the thermal-power (coal-power) related phemonenon and data of the power sector in 2015, the mismatching of use and resources remains complex. With a 2.3% annual drop in thermal power generation and only 0.5% growth in total electricity consumption, the addition of installed capacity of coal-fired plants is incompatible with demand at 52,000 megawatts…

    Greenpeace East Asia
  • Dafeng Power Station in China. © Greenpeace / Zhiyong Fu
    Climate & Energy

    Data shows China’s economy is breaking free from coal – Greenpeace

    Beijing, 15 April, 2016 - A trove of data on economic performance in the first quarter of 2016, released by China’s National Bureau of Statistics this morning, shows that while China’s overall economy saw some improvement, coal use and CO2 continue to fall. Electricity consumption grew 3% year on year, but growth in non-fossil energy…

    Greenpeace East Asia
  • Climate & Energy

    Boom and Bust 2016

    The world has too many coal-fired power plants, yet the power industry continues to build more. While the amount of electricity generated from coal has declined for two years in a row, the industry has ignored this trend and continues to build new coal-fired generating plants at a rapid pace, creating an increasingly severe capacity…

    Greenpeace East Asia
  • Climate & Energy

    China begins to suspend coal-fired power plant approvals, Greenpeace response

    Beijing, 24 March, 2016 - Chinese media today reported that the country’s National Energy Administration (NEA) has ordered 13 provincial governments to suspend approvals of new coal-fired power plant projects until the end of 2017. [1] Another group of 15 provinces has been ordered to delay new construction of projects that have already been approved.…

    Greenpeace East Asia
  • Climate & Energy

    How the Coal Industry is Aggravating the Global Water Crisis

    In its Global Risks Report 2015, the World Economic Forum stated “water security is one of the most tangible and fastest-growing social, political and economic challenges faced today.”1 Out of all industrial production, the coal industry represents one of the greatest demands on fresh water resources. The entire coal supply chain, including extraction, washing, coal-fired…

    Greenpeace East Asia
  • Factories along the Yangtze River. © Lu Guang / Greenpeace
    Climate & Energy

    45% of China’s coal-fired power plants in areas of ‘water over-withdrawal’, Greenpeace

    Beijing, 22 March, 2016 – 45% of coal-fired power plants in China are located in areas of ‘water over-withdrawal’, a ground-breaking Greenpeace study of the coal industry’s impact on the global water crisis shows. Every year these power plants consume quantities of water equivalent to the basic requirements of 186 million people. Moreover, 48% of…

    Greenpeace East Asia
  • Climate & Energy

    China’s 13th Five Year Plan hints at stronger climate ambition – Greenpeace

    Beijing, 17 March 2016 - China's 13th Five Year Plan released today could indicate the world's largest carbon emitter will ramp its climate targets up within the next five years, just weeks after a recent paper also suggested that China’s emission may already have peaked.

    Greenpeace East Asia
  • Climate & Energy

    Greenpeace: In spite of China’s overcapacity crisis, 210 new coal fired power plants received environmental permits in 2015

    Beijing, 2 March, 2016 – An updated Greenpeace East Asia report has found that in 2015 a total of 210 new coal fired power plants were granted environmental permits, in spite of the sector’s severe overcapacity problem. Moreover, the rate at which these redundant power plants are being approved by provincial governments was dramatically higher…

    Greenpeace East Asia
  • Climate & Energy

    UPDATE: Is China doubling down on its coal power bubble?

    In January-December 2015, China’s Ministry of Environmental Protection and provincial Environmental Protection Bureaus gave at least one positive permitting decision to a total of 210 coal-fired power plants with a total capacity of 169 gigawatts – four power plants per week. This surge of approvals seems to have resulted from China’s decision to decentralize authority…

    Greenpeace East Asia
  • Yulin Coal Industry in China. © Nian Shan / Greenpeace
    Climate & Energy

    China’s CO2 emissions continued to fall in 2015 – Greenpeace response

    Beijing, 29 February, 2016 – Statistics released today by the National Bureau of Statistics show that a fall in China’s coal consumption and CO2 emissions continued for a second year in a row 2015. The fall in coal use over past two years was equal to Japan’s total yearly coal consumption. The trend is the…

    Greenpeace East Asia