The head of the International Energy Agency, a think tank for developed countries on energy matters, said China is making a sizeable effort to turn around its coal-based energy economy in a time when the world’s focus is on the threat of climate change.
Maria van der Hoeven said that China is still building coal-fired energy plants, but every new one built allows for an older, less efficient coal plant to go into retirement.
China is also leading the nuclear power renaissance with 50 new reactors planned, about half of which are currently under construction. In fact, China is creating an economy of scale in nuclear power construction, a point that no other country can claim, although Russia could be reaching an economy of scale in its nuclear export business.
Harmful emissions dropped 1 percent in China in 2014. Renewables are also part of the country’s energy game plan. “They have the largest wind power market in the world. They have increased power generation from renewable from really nothing 10 years ago – and now it’s 25 percent,” van der Hoeven said as quoted by the BBC.
The IEA estimates China spent almost twice what any other nation spent on new renewable power in 2014. China spent $80 billion, while the European Union spent $46 billion; Japan $37 billion and the United States $34 billion.
While China appears to be making an effort, the country’s economy is also developing at rapid rate. By 2030, China is expected to create 2.5 times the amount of harmful emissions than the second most polluting country, the United States.