Global coal plant capacity edges up
The global capacity of power plants fired by coal, the fossil fuel that emits the most carbon dioxide when burned, rose nearly 1% last year as the world recovered from the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a research report by a US environmental group.
The GEM report found that global coal plant capacity grew 18.2 gigawatts to about 2,100 GW or about 0.87%. Scientists and activists have urged the world to move off coal to cleaner energy sources such as solar and wind power and in some cases, nuclear power. “It is up by a small number,” said Flora Champenois, a research analyst at GEM about the capacity rise. “But it comes at a time when the world needs a dramatic fall in capacity, not any rise.”
Last year’s surge in new coal plants of about 25.2 GW in China nearly offset coal plant closures in the rest of the world of 25.6 GW.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 27th, 2022.
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