China’s US$7 trillion spending spree aims to save economy – but will its reliance on fossil fuels put the planet at risk?
- Environmentalists warn that plans to build more coal-fired power plants could leave it locked into a high-carbon policy for decades
- One report warned that continuing on this route threatens to undermine the global agreement to limit the rise in temperatures to 2 Celsius
China is planning a 50 trillion yuan (US$7 trillion) stimulus package to try to save the economy after the coronavirus lockdown, but the projects listed include a number of coal-fired power plants – raising fears among environmentalists that it will double down on fossil fuels.
By doing so, it could lock China into decades of unsustainable development and threaten efforts to meet the UN climate change target of limiting the rise in global temperatures to 2 degrees Celsius, they said.
A report by Global Energy Monitor, a San Francisco-based non-governmental organisation, warned that if China continues to increase coal power capacity through to 2035, its output alone will far exceed the total coal power generation allotted to the entire world to meet the target and potentially make other countries’ efforts futile.
But the most recent spending plans announced by provincial governments include several new coal-fired plants, which could worsen the problem.
According to a survey of provincial investment plans published two weeks ago by China Economic Weekly, 25 out of the country’s 31 provinces have announced plans for projects worth a total of 49.6 trillion yuan.
The figures include projects that were already under way as well as new ones, and the works planned for this year will be worth about 7.6 trillion yuan.
