The report says the carbon dioxide emissions from China-invested power plants overseas now stand at an estimated 245m tonnes per year, about the same as the annual energy-related carbon dioxide emissions from countries the size of Spain or Thailand.
RH Desk
October 25
The carbon dioxide emissions from China-invested overseas coal plants equal the annual energy-related carbon dioxide emissions from countries the size of Spain or Thailand, a new research from Boston University’s Global Development Policy Center has shown.
The carbon dioxide emissions are believed to be the primary driver of global climate change.
The report says the carbon dioxide emissions from China-invested power plants overseas now stand at an estimated 245m tonnes per year, about the same as the annual energy-related carbon dioxide emissions from countries the size of Spain or Thailand.
China is said to be the world’s biggest greenhouse gas emitter as well as its largest coal consumer.
The research report says that Chinese companies and government-run investment banks have financed a total of 171.6 gigawatts (GW) of overseas power generation capacity, representing a total of 648 power plants in 92 countries with 113.5 GW already operational.
“While China has taken steps to decarbonize its overseas investments … more can be done to decarbonize China’s global power, including a particular focus on decarbonizing Asia, where the most generating capacity is financed by China and over 50 percent is coal-based,” the centre says in its report.
About half of that total capacity of Chinese-backed power generation overseas is fossil-fuel related, and the pipeline of projects could add another 100m tonnes of annual carbon dioxide emissions if they are all completed, says Cecilia Springer, a researcher at the Boston University research centre.
“China’s overseas power portfolio is still dominated by coal and large-scale hydropower, indicating that China can do more to implement its pledge to step up support for green and low-carbon energy in developing countries — especially wind and solar power,” she says.
President Xi Jinping told the United Nations General Assembly last year that China would stop investing in overseas coal-fired power plants as part of its commitment to combat climate change, a move estimated to involve about $50bn in investment.
Xi’s pledge led to the immediate cancellation of several overseas projects, though some remained in a “grey area” and could still go ahead, experts say.
The majority of the China-financed overseas power generation capacity now in the planning stage will employ low-carbon energy sources, the Boston University research says, indicating that a recent pledge to end overseas coal financing is having an effect.
