Harrabin Ignores China’s New Coal Power Stations
By Paul Homewood
Instead of campaigning against a tiny new coal mine in Cumbria, maybe Harrabin should be telling his readers about what is going on in China:
SHANGHAI – China put 38.4 gigawatts (GW) of new coal-fired power capacity into operation in 2020, according to new international research, more than three times the amount built elsewhere around the world and potentially undermining its short-term climate goals.
The country won praise last year after President Xi Jinping pledged to make the country "carbon neutral" by 2060. But regulators have since come under fire for failing to properly control the coal power sector, a major source of climate-warming greenhouse gas.
Including decommissions, China’s coal-fired fleet capacity rose by a net 29.8 GW in 2020, even as the rest of the world made cuts of 17.2 GW, according to research released on Wednesday by Global Energy Monitor (GEM), a U.S. think tank, and the Helsinki-based Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA).
"The runaway expansion of coal-fired power is driven by electricity companies’ and local governments’ interest in maximizing investment spending, more than a real need for new capacity," said Lauri Myllyvirta, CREA lead analyst.
The country’s National Energy Administration (NEA) didn’t immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment.
China approved the construction of a further 36.9 GW of coal-fired capacity last year, three times more than a year earlier, bringing the total under construction to 88.1 GW. It now has 247 GW of coal power under development, enough to supply the whole of Germany.
A team of central government environmental inspectors delivered a scathing assessment of China’s energy regulator last Friday, accusing officials of planning failures and focusing too much on guaranteeing energy supply.
How dare they focus on energy security!!
Or maybe Harrabin should be telling his readers how France has been failing meet its climate targets:
PARIS — A Paris court on Wednesday ruled that the French state failed to take sufficient action to fight climate change in a case brought by four nongovernmental organizations.
The NGOs cheered the decision as “historic” for their country and a boon to those elsewhere using the law to push their governments in the fight against global warming. The four organizations are Greenpeace France, Oxfam France, the Nicolas Hulot Foundation and Notre Affaire a Tous (Our Shared Responsibility).
In its ruling, the administrative court recognized ecological “deficiencies” linked to climate change and held the French state responsible for failing to fully meet its goals in reducing greenhouse gases.
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NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT 
And France was fined a whole Euro. That’ll teach them!
Well, actually 4 Euros. But, still hilarious.
Climate obsessives like Harrabin just chase the next headline and ignore anything inconvenient.
Perhaps he could write a piece about the extra costs of grid instability due to renewables.
29th January 2020 – Balancing the grid
National Grid Electricity System Operator (ESO) has agreed contracts with five parties, worth £328 million over a six-year period, in a new, innovative and world first approach to managing the stability of the electricity system.
https://www.nationalgrideso.com/news/national-grid-eso-outline-new-approach-stability-services-significant-step-forwards-towards
If your object is to destroy western economies, whatever China does is of no consequence.
But who is paying to ‘destroy western economies’?
🙂
Is this chap a campaigner or a journalist?
Both – he reports on his own campaigns.
…to his campaign managers (BBC)
I am sure the result of the court case was met with a Gallic shrug.
The BBC has quite lost its way. Harrabin is one disgceful example of its failure.
Is there any hope for it?
Sorry, “disgraceful”
NO! Split it up and sell it off.
Better still, take it to court and sue it for millions/billions for trashing its charter of impartiality.
OT but does anybody have details of the government refusing to respond to a FOI request for details of the costs for net zero.
And a subsequent court order for them to do so.
I mentioned China building 1,171 additional coal-fired power stations as a consequence of COP21 in my complaint.
Doing a Biden (sorry Xiden) now known as ”
Let them eat cake.”