Greenpeace has urged China’s top power companies to play a role in cutting emissions and easing the country’s reliance upon coal, by dramatically increasing energy efficiency and the use of renewables.
China’s top ten power companies and their heavy dependence on coal are hindering the country’s efforts to tackle climate change, a new Greenpeace report released on Tuesday said.
The top ten power companies provide almost 60% of China’s total electricity, says the report, entitled “Polluting Power: Ranking China’s Biggest Power Companies.”
By burning 20% of China’s coal in 2008, the companies emitted an equivalent of 1.44 billion tonnes of CO2. And emissions by the largest three, namely Huaneng, Datang and Guodian, surpassed Britain’s total emissions in the same year, according to the report.
"Climate change is humankind’s most urgent environmental problem. China’s power companies are not only the key coal consumer but also the major CO2 emitter. All parts of Chinese society must play a role in moving China away from intensive coal dependence and these major polluters must not be exempt from this responsibility,” said Greenpeace Climate Campaign Manager Yang Ailun,
During the past three and a half years, China has closed down the least efficient coal-fired plants with installed capacity totalling 54.07 gig watts, which is higher than the total capacity of Australia.
Greenpeace urges the Chinese power companies to phase out all inefficient coal-fired plants under 100 megawatt by 2012, saying that by doing so, China could reduce coal consumption by 90 million tonnes and avoid 220 million tonnes of CO2 emissions a year.
According to China’s renewable energy mid-and-long term development plan, by 2010, large power companies, including the top ten listed in this report, are obliged to have at least 3% of their installed capacity from non-hydro renewable sources.
But by the end of 2008, eight out of the ten were not even half way to
meeting this modest target, the report points out. “Yet, China has a huge potential to become the world leader in renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies,” Yang said.
Greenpeace also calls on the Chinese government to introduce a price signal for coal that not only effectively drives power companies to rapidly move to renewable energy, but also ensures that, during the transition, coal is used as efficiently as possible.
However, electricity price in China is regulated and fails to reflect the higher market price of coal. Power companies have expected a small rise of coal price to make a profit.
China must also double its national renewable energy target to 30% by 2020.
“In order to achieve these targets, the electricity sector, especially the large power companies, must play their crucial role. The challenges China is facing in the lead up to the UN Climate Meeting in Copenhagen this December will be even larger without serious actions to cut emissions by these companies,” Yang concluded.
China’s top ten power companies and their heavy dependence on coal are hindering the country’s efforts to tackle climate change, a new Greenpeace report released on Tuesday said.
The top ten power companies provide almost 60% of China’s total electricity, says the report, entitled “Polluting Power: Ranking China’s Biggest Power Companies.”
By burning 20% of China’s coal in 2008, the companies emitted an equivalent of 1.44 billion tonnes of CO2. And emissions by the largest three, namely Huaneng, Datang and Guodian, surpassed Britain’s total emissions in the same year, according to the report.
"Climate change is humankind’s most urgent environmental problem. China’s power companies are not only the key coal consumer but also the major CO2 emitter. All parts of Chinese society must play a role in moving China away from intensive coal dependence and these major polluters must not be exempt from this responsibility,” said Greenpeace Climate Campaign Manager Yang Ailun,
During the past three and a half years, China has closed down the least efficient coal-fired plants with installed capacity totalling 54.07 gig watts, which is higher than the total capacity of Australia.
Greenpeace urges the Chinese power companies to phase out all inefficient coal-fired plants under 100 megawatt by 2012, saying that by doing so, China could reduce coal consumption by 90 million tonnes and avoid 220 million tonnes of CO2 emissions a year.
According to China’s renewable energy mid-and-long term development plan, by 2010, large power companies, including the top ten listed in this report, are obliged to have at least 3% of their installed capacity from non-hydro renewable sources.
But by the end of 2008, eight out of the ten were not even half way to
meeting this modest target, the report points out. “Yet, China has a huge potential to become the world leader in renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies,” Yang said.
Greenpeace also calls on the Chinese government to introduce a price signal for coal that not only effectively drives power companies to rapidly move to renewable energy, but also ensures that, during the transition, coal is used as efficiently as possible.
However, electricity price in China is regulated and fails to reflect the higher market price of coal. Power companies have expected a small rise of coal price to make a profit.
China must also double its national renewable energy target to 30% by 2020.
“In order to achieve these targets, the electricity sector, especially the large power companies, must play their crucial role. The challenges China is facing in the lead up to the UN Climate Meeting in Copenhagen this December will be even larger without serious actions to cut emissions by these companies,” Yang concluded.
