A report by US nonprofit Global Energy Monitor (GEM) showed that 90% of the 195 coal-fired power plants under construction worldwide are in Asia, including 95 in China, 28 in India, and 23 in Indonesia. According to GEM, the new coal plants would emit nearly 28 billion tons of CO2 over their 30-year lifespans. That is close to 32 billion tons of the world’s total CO2 emissions from all sources last year.
These new plants will emit greenhouse gas for decades and pose challenges to world leaders seeking to curb the global temperature increase in the COP26 climate talks in Glasgow. Coal is one of the dividing issues between advanced and emerging economies as they seek to tackle climate change. Industrialised nations have been retiring coal plants for years to cut emissions. For instance, the US has closed down 301 coal plants since 2000. In contrast, energy-hungry Asian countries are building fleets of coal plants to power their economies.
BP, in its Statistical Review of World Energy, said that coal accounted for 35% of the world’s power in 2020, the largest compared to natural gas (25%), hydropower (16%), renewables (12%), and nuclear (10%). In some Asian countries, coal’s share in the generation mix is twice the global average. Coal demand is expected to hit a new record this year, after a fall last year amid stay-at-home orders.
