The Chinese government has ordered the construction of coal-fired power plants to be slowed down or cancelled amid global pressure to reduce air pollution.
But US-based climate research group CoalSwarm says fresh satellite images show construction has not abated.
The Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis' Tim Buckley. Source: SBS News
The group warns in a report, released this week, of an "approaching tsunami" of coal plants that would boost China's existing coal capacity by 25 per cent.
Expert Tim Buckley from the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEFA) says some Chinese provinces, more concerned with economic issues like unemployment, are disregarding Beijing's international climate commitments.
"It is a story of policy conflict between the states and provinces and the central government's overarching national objectives," Mr Buckley told SBS News.
CoalSwarm has warned of a "tsunami" of coal plants in China. Source: SBS News
A decentralisation program shifting control of coal station permits to local authorities saw a surge in approvals around four years ago.
China’s central government has tried to rein in the licenses for more than 100 plants. But rather than cancelling projects, provincial officials in many cases merely rescheduled them.
"The provincial governments are all about economic growth for their province and so as soon as the central government takes their eye off them they very quickly want to step back to the way they were operating before, which is to kick-start domestic construction activity," he said.
Julien Vincent from Friends of the Earth says news of new coal-fired plants being built in China is alarming.
"China's commitment under Paris is to peak its emissions by 2030 and it's still on track to do that, the way emissions are trending. But that doesn't mean we should be anything but alarmed at new coal power stations going ahead," said Mr Vincent.
Having just a couple of provinces building 50 or 100 gigawatts of new coal-fired power plants would be an "absolute global catastrophe" for the Paris Climate Agreement," says Mr Buckley.
However, he expects a strong response from Beijing.
Mr Buckley also believes China remains committed to reducing their carbon footprint.
Julien Vincent from Friends of the Earth. Source: SBS News
"In the past eight years China has cancelled or shelved an amazing number of coal-fired power plants - 718 thousand megawatts of coal plants have been shelved or cancelled over the last eight years," said Mr Buckley.
Only this week the NDRC, the ruling governing body for energy in China, dramatically increased their renewable targets, from 20 per cent by 2030 to 35 per cent by 2035, said Mr Buckley.
"I have absolutely no doubt China is absolutely wedded to transitioning to decarbonise their economy and to transition their energy system to resolve the massive air pollution problems they've got."
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