By Jo Nova

Two and a half years ago President Xi promised to  “strictly control coal-fired power generation projects” in China. Before this solemn pledge the CCP had approved a blockbuster 54 gigawatts of coal fired power plants in just two years. Afterwards, to show how committed they were to Net Zero principles and international agreements, they *only* approved 131 GW. As President Xi promised — he’s “strictly in control”  (of a massive increase). He’s also strictly in control of the world’s manufacturing.

The UN, Greenpeace, and Joe Biden promptly did nothing at all — it’s not like the future of life on Earth is at stake. And John Kerry found “agreement” and “hope”.

The BBC  told the world about China’s green power surge instead, and mentioned the coal in passing. China had spawned a world record in coal plant construction, but apparently these coal plants are not so bad because many are built on renewable parks, “partly as backup for all the new wind and solar farms”. Meanwhile the International Energy Agency (IEA) — a kind of mini UN energy bureaucracy — predicts China’s peak coal will happen next year. Apologists, all of them.

Just for comparison: Australia has one 1,000 MW plant in the “pre-permit” stage. (Collinsville). It’s so “pre” that the even though it was suggested four years ago, and awarded $4m to for a feasibility study, no feasibleness has been announced.

At least Europe has some nuclear plants.

Likewise the US:

All this data comes not from overpaid academics, Ministry’s of Energy, or publicly funded “news” broadcasters. None of them give a toss about CO2 emissions. Instead it takes some NGO’s who are paid to be perplexed but at least they are honest in their confusion.

These people believe propaganda put out by both the UK and by China, and are caught in the lights, genuinely surprised…

 Lauri Myllyvirta, Byford Tsang, Foreign Policy

The recent about-face on coal is odd for Beijing, which generally under-promises and over-delivers on climate commitments. Controlling new coal power projects is one of the few pledges China has made from now until 2025. Furthermore, more coal power is not necessary to keep the lights on, since China has a booming clean energy sector.

By many measures, China is the front-runner in the global clean technology race. Its renewable energy investments accounted for 55 percent of the global total in 2022. Just two Chinese companies have captured over half of the world’s electric vehicle battery market, and 60 percent of electric cars sales in 2022 occurred in China.

Someone should tell them that half the worlds renewables only made 7% of China’s total energy needs.

All the back up coal plants made 57%.

Thanks to NetZeroWatch for the inspiration.