China Bans New Coal Plants In Step To Reduce Pollution

Last Updated: 13, September 2013

Please note that we are not authorised to provide any investment advice. The content on this page is for information purposes only.

The Chinese government on Thursday unveiled a new multi-pronged approach to tackle the country’s notorious air pollution problem, including a ban on the construction of new coal power plants at three key industrial regions, as well as investments into energy efficient projects that will cut energy consumption per unit of industrial value by 20 percent.

The plan, released by the Chinese State Council, sought to address growing public criticism over the nation’s abysmal environmental record – wherein earlier in the year, concentration of fine particulate matter in the capital of Beijing had soared to over 40 times the exposure limit recommended by the World Health Organisation.

The State Council said that it intends to cut coal’s share of the country’s total primary energy use to below 65 percent by 2017, while eyeing an increase in the share of nuclear power, natural gas and renewable energy.

Coal is currently responsible for more than three-quarters of China’s total electricity needs and has been blamed in the past for the nation’s smog problem, particularly in much of the industrial north.

Northern Hebei province, China’s biggest steel-producing region, has announced it would slash coal use by 40 million tonnes over the 2012-2015 period. The Chinese government also said that it would be shutting down several old coal facilities and ban the construction of new coal-fire power plants New coal-fired power plants will be banned for new projects in the region surrounding Beijing, in the Yangtze Delta region near Shanghai and in the Pearl River Delta region of Guangdong province.

The State Council admitted that the country’s air pollution situation was “grim” and is “harming people’s health and affecting social harmony and stability.”

[quote]“Ensuring clean air affects the sustainability of economic growth and the ability to fulfil the dream of the great renaissance of the Chinese nation,” the council said in a statement.[/quote]

Other measures to reduce pollution include a plan to address vehicle emissions by removing all high-polluting “yellow label” vehicles that were registered before the end of 2005 from the roads by the end of 2015. All “yellow label” vehicles will also be taken off the roads in China by 2017.

In addition, the State Council said it would impose heavier penalties for environmental, energy conservation and safety violations, while energy conservation and environmental protection standards will be strictly implemented to support the phasing out of excess production capacity.

The government intends to invest 75 trillion yuan ($284.2 billion) to promote greater energy efficiency and promised to work with industries to improve emissions.

Environmentalists welcomed the plan but questioned how effective the implementation may be.

“The coal consumption reduction targets for key industrial areas are a good sign they are taking air pollution and public health more seriously, but to make those targets happen, the action plan is a bit disappointing and there are loopholes,” said Huang Wei, a campaigner with Greenpeace in Beijing, to Reuters.

“Instead of setting a goal to reduce coal burning for each province, the action plan gives each province the power to set goals for themselves, which leads to the goals being very conservative,” added Huang, during an interview with the New York Times.

[quote]“We had been waiting for months for the new action plan. We thought it might be a pivot point in history. Now it’s here, and we think it has very much fallen short of our expectations,” she later said.[/quote]

About EW News Desk Team PRO INVESTOR

Latest news about the state of the world economy.

View all posts by EW News Desk Team