RE: This is about to explode...12 Dec 2018 10:13
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"China's coal policy is in the crossfire of criticism:
As Beijing struggles domestically to cut coal, it is selling dirty coal plants to Asia, Africa and the Middle East. "China is a world leader in investments that are gradually turning its economy away from coal energy," said Tim Buckley of the IEEFA Energy Research Institute. "But overseas, China continues to invest in numerous coal projects that are in direct conflict with the national energy strategy."
Carbon dioxide emissions from these China-funded power plants could undermine international efforts to stop global warming, according to a recent IEEFA study. Thus, behind a quarter of the coal-fired power plants that are currently planned or built outside the People's Republic, state Chinese financial institutions or companies. "The danger is to bind these countries to something that is not good for them in the long term and that is not compatible with the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement," says Christine Shearer, lead author of the report.
Many of the destinations, such as Egypt, Nigeria, Kenya, Senegal or Zimbabwe, have so far produced little or no energy from coal. "That means they need to build an infrastructure to import coal or even coal mines," says Shearer.
Coal is responsible for 40 percent of climate-damaging CO2 emissions worldwide. However, according to the report, Chinese banks and investors are investing 18.5 billion euros in 31-gigawatt coal-fired power plants in a dozen countries. Accordingly, further investments amounting to 13.2 billion euros are planned for additional 71 gigawatts in 24 countries.
"A flood of new coal infrastructure would bury our chances of keeping global warming well below two degrees Celsius," says Heffa Schücking of the German environmental organization Urgewald. "The Chinese government must stop financing new coal-fired power plants at home and abroad."
Reproach of hypocrisy: To limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, according to calculations of the UN, coal energy must disappear almost completely from the energy mix by the middle of the century. In China, the use of coal has declined slightly in recent years. In the rest of Asia, however, it has risen sharply due to growing energy demand. The largest financier of the new coal-fired power plants is China - in addition to South Korea and Japan." N-tv