Significance
This is an opportunity for China to renew its commitment to industrial and energy transformation. However, a massive expansion of coal-burning power generation is also planned.
Impacts
China-US tensions pose an underestimated menace to the climate because they encourage China to seek energy self-sufficiency through coal.
Coal, steel and mining industries will receive a short-term boost, despite their long structural decline and unsustainability.
Greater use of coal power will increase air pollution, offsetting the benefits to human health of green innovation and industrial upgrading.
President Xi Jinping’s promotion of the slogan ‘Ecological Civilisation’ suggests a desire for a green reputation internationally.
Emissions of Inorganic Trace Pollutants from Coal Power Generation
