this post was submitted on 10 Nov 2025
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AFAIK this is not correct. Permissions for plants continue to be granted but the new plants themselves are not being built. If only because coal is now becoming substantially more expensive than solar, which China is rolling out on almost unfathomable scale.
It's easy to carp about all the downsides to this revolution, but the uncomfortable fact is that the rest of us signed up to do all this ourselves too, because ultimately it's the only way to address the climate crisis.
As for air pollution, again, however bad it might still be, it was much much worse only a few years ago. Southern Chinese cities are now almost unrecognizably cleaner than they were. Yes there are ongoing issues, particularly in the north as you say, but I think we should be able to give credit where credit is due.
China had a higher number of new coal power plants in the first half of 2025 than in any half-year period since 2016. In the first six months of 2025, China put 21 gigawatts of coal power online, with projections for the full year exceeding 80 GW.
Furthermore, new and revived proposals for new coal power plants in China totaled 75 GW, the highest half-year figure in a decade, clearly reflecting a continued push to advance coal projects.
At the same time, only 1 GW of coal power was retired in the first six months of 2025, with just 16 GW retired since 2021. According to China's 14th Five-Year Plan goal to retire 30 GW by the end of 2025, 13 GW would need to be retired in this fall - a highly unlikely prediction.
And despite some improvements of air quality, Chinese cities are among the most polluted worldwide.
Okay for the recent figures, but much of the rest is just projections, as I mentioned.
As for the coal GW figures, they are dwarfed by the equivalents for solar, as you surely know. More than 250 GW for the same recent semester, it would seem.
This is just not true any more, at least for the southern megacities where electrification of transport is in full swing. The AQI comparison with India in particular is now like night and day. Are you as concerned about India's lack of progress as you seem to be about China's imperfect progress?
On this latter front I personally have no need for statistics. I have recently breathed the air myself in central Shenzhen and Shanghai. Forget India, the better comparison these days is with Switzerland.
Whatever China's failings in politics and civil liberties (or lack thereof), I see no reason to deny the obvious truth here: in terms of both the energy transition and liveable cities - i.e. freed from the internal combustion engine - China is now leading the way globally. In comparison we in the West are hypocrites and failures.
No, they are not 'dwarfed' by the equivalents for solar, because a pollution is a pollution. If you burn coal in your plant this hurts the environment, not matter how many solar cells you install on your house.
And it is true that Chinese cities are among the most polluted in the world. In 2024, China ranked 21 (of 138 countries) in the list of the most polluted countries.
Well, we will agree to disagree on the directionality aspect of all this. But that was otherwise an unexpectedly civil exchange, with data cited and no inane downvoting or insults. So others can make up their own minds. Good day to you.