China slashed permits for coal-fired power plants by roughly 80 percent in the first half of 2024 amid a construction boom in the country’s renewable energy sector.
Beijing approved just 9 gigawatts of new coal power capacity from January to July of this year, according to a new report from the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air and Global Energy Monitor. That’s down sharply from 52 GW during the same period in 2023.
The data aligns closely with another report this week from Greenpeace East Asia, which said just over 10 GW of new coal power was approved across 14 projects. It also found that China’s wind and solar capacity exceeded total coal capacity for the first time in the first half of 2024.
Proposals for new coal-fired power plants also dropped too, from 60 GW in early 2023 to 37 GW in early 2024, according to the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air.
