<
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/apr/26/too-many-new-coal-fired-plants-planned-for-15c-climate-goal-report-concludes>
"The number of coal-fired power plants under development around the world fell
last year, but far too much coal is still being burned and too many new
coal-fired power plants are planned for the world to stay within safe
temperature limits.
Coal use appeared to be in long-term decline before the Covid-19 pandemic, but
lockdowns around the world and economic upheaval drove an increase in new coal
projects in 2020, particularly in China.
Last year, the total coal power capacity in development fell sharply again, by
about 13%, from 525GW to 457GW, a record low for new plants under development,
according to a report from Global Energy Monitor published on Tuesday. The
number of countries planning new plants also fell, from 41 at the beginning of
2021 to 34 countries.
But these encouraging signs were outweighed by a slowdown in older coal-fired
power stations being taken out of service. About 25GW of capacity was taken out
– roughly equal to the amount of new capacity commissioned in China – and the
amount of electricity generated from coal rose by 9% in 2021 to a record high,
more than rebounding from a 4% fall in 2020 when Covid first struck.
The authors of the report concluded that “coal’s last gasp is not yet in
sight”, despite countries agreeing at the Cop26 UN climate summit last November
to a “phase down” of coal. Last year, the International Energy Agency warned
that no new exploration of fossil fuels of any kind could take place if the
world was to limit global heating to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
