More Coal-Fired Power Plants Globally

Less than a month ago, nearly 200 nations inked a climate deal in Paris—but don’t expect that to slow the construction of dirty, coal-fired power plants around the world, the Institute for Energy Research reports.

China is building 368 coal-fired power plants and planning a further 803 and India is building 297 and planning 149. Together these two countries are building or planning to build two-thirds of the coal-fired plants planned worldwide over the next 15 years.

Other countries, such as Indonesia and Japan, are also planning to build coal-fired power plants. Japan is planning to build 45 very efficient coal-fired plants to replace electricity that was supplied by nuclear plants before the tsunami hit in 2011.

… In the first nine months of this year, [Chinese] state-owned companies received preliminary or full approval to build 155 coal power plants that have a total capacity of 123 gigawatts. That capacity is equal to 15 percent of China’s coal-fired power capacity at the end of 2014 and almost 40 percent of the operational coal power plants in the United States. If the 155 plants operated at typical levels for new projects, they would emit 560 million metric tons of carbon dioxide annually–equal to Brazil’s total energy emissions.

This news illustrates one of the fundamental weaknesses of the Paris climate agreement. Despite massive pollution, China and India—the world’s top and third largest carbon emitters, respectively—have lots to lose and little to gain by enforcing stringent climate-change policies.

Both countries are home to millions trapped in extreme poverty. Energy-fueled economic growth is the only way to lift these citizens into prosperity. So it’s no surprise that China, India and other developing nations are putting the concrete, short-term economic interests of their citizens above long-term, more abstract environmental interests.

Keep in mind, too, that if developing countries don’t manage to meet the carbon-slashing goals they agreed to in Paris, the United States has no way of holding them to their commitment.