Coal continues to play a central role in electricity generation in China

In 2020, the Chinese government made strong commitments to decarbonise its electricity system: to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2060. In 2023, China commissioned 47,400 MW of coal-fired power stations, two-thirds of the new capacity commissioned worldwide. The commissioning figure is four times higher than in 2019. At the same time, China is continuing to invest massively in wind and solar power, whose contribution to domestic electricity production has doubled in three years. Experts believe that investment in coal does not call into question China's environmental objectives, but is necessary to guarantee the country's security of supply in the short term, and that coal continues to play a central role in this respect.