China’s new coal plants risk 2060 climate target, researchers say

China’s new coal plants risk 2060 climate target, researchers say

China's new coal plants risk 2060 climate target, researchers say

China's new coal plants risk 2060 climate target, researchers say

China's new coal plants risk 2060 climate target, researchers say

A coal mine in northern China's Shanxi province. China must stop building new coal power plants and increase its wind and solar capacity if it wants to become carbon neutral by 2060, experts say. (AFP)

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China's new coal plants risk 2060 climate target, researchers say

'Coal power should be phased out rapidly in a cost-effective manner'

Updated 21 November 2020

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BEIJING: China must stop building new coal power plants and ramp up its wind and solar capacity if it wants to become carbon neutral by 2060, researchers said on Friday.

A new report published by the Helsinki-based Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air warned that overcapacity of existing plants and new ones being built mean it will be hard for Beijing to meet the much-lauded climate goal promised by President Xi Jinping earlier this year.

The research organization called for the Chinese government to shut down all new coal-fired power plants built from 2020 and double the growth of wind and solar power in the next decade.

The country should aim to whittle its coal fleet