China will produce more coal in 2022. The announcement was made by Beijing on Wednesday April 20 via the official Chinese press after a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Li Keqiang. In total, it will produce an additional 300 million tonnes for the current year, which is huge because it is an increase of 8% compared to last year, when 4 billion tonnes of coal were produced, which which was already a historic record.
This increase will first go through an increase in production in existing mines. In March, extraction levels were unprecedented. This will also be done by opening new mines, particularly in the Ordos area, in Inner Mongolia, in the north of the country: reserves there are estimated at 2 billion tonnes.
China, with 1.4 billion inhabitants, is now – by far – the world’s leading coal producer with 50% of world production. Its energy mix is 60% dependent on this fossil fuel. By mechanical effect, Beijing is therefore also the world’s leading polluter. These announcements confirm that the situation will deteriorate in the years to come.
The very short-term economic objective continues to come before climate commitments. Chinese power says it wants “to maintain a normal life”, in other words, to pursue the economic development of the country in a logic of growth and development of internal consumption. It therefore needs electricity quickly and coal mining is the fastest method.
Beijing also wants to reduce its imports and thus increase its energy autonomy even if, in recent weeks, it has sharply increased its imports of Russian coal to help Moscow, which sees its outlets restricted by Western sanctions. In the medium term, however, Beijing’s objective remains autonomy. China must therefore produce more on national soil and the fastest remains – here again – coal.
All of this seems contradictory when China made spectacular announcements last fall in the fight against global warming. The country is committed to reaching its peak of emissions in 2030 to achieve carbon neutrality in 2060 and is developing huge alternative programs to fossil fuels. The construction of three new nuclear power plants was announced on Thursday. Regarding renewable energies, China started from scratch 15 years ago and has already become the world’s leading investor in wind and solar energy. In particular, it has an emblematic project: to produce, in the Gobi desert, 455 gigawatts by 2030. This is almost double the total production of the United States.
Beijing has also pledged to stop funding coal-fired power plants abroad. But there is a serious doubt, especially on the projects in Indonesia. China therefore represents both the rise of the worst (coal) and the best (renewables). In the short term, however, it will be above all the worst and it is incompatible with the recommendations of IPCC scientists, if we want to limit the increase in temperatures in the next three years, before irreversible consequences.