A new study from the University of California San Diego examines the complex challenges China faces as it attempts to transition away from its reliance on coal, the country’s primary energy source. The research highlights the political, economic, and technological obstacles China must overcome to combat climate change while ensuring energy security. As China grapples with this delicate balance, international collaboration and lesson-sharing will be crucial in the global effort to phase down coal. Coal power in China is a key factor in this transition.
Balancing energy security with decarbonisation
China’s dependence on coal is, of course, a more nuanced problem. One one hand, the nation is aimed at reducing its carbon emissions and reaching peak emissions by 2030 with a target set to be carbon-neutral in 2060. China’s Challenge Coal, but coal remains integral to Chinese energy security and its political economy.
While China has paused more coal plant permits and construction than in a decade, a focus on energy security is driving new approvals there, the study said. In 2021, it had the worst power cuts in decades, which hit 20 of its provinces. However, this has prompted the government to balance security with a push towards renewable energy.
Michael Davidson, the study’s author, said while China was able to shed more than two million workers from its coal mining sector over the past decade without significant social and economic impacts, the next two million job cuts would disrupt lives on a far wider scale. Balancing the needs of workers, communities, and industries that depend on coal with the moral imperative to slash emissions will pose a formidable challenge.
Technological and Policy Challenges
The study also points out technological challenges in coal transition for China, apart from the political and economic obstructs. The country has 140 billion tons of coal reserves which are an integral part of the countries energy security.
Davidson argues the importance of ” stronger market reform, long-term stable renewable investment, and adequate assistance to regional communities, workers and firms impacted by the transition away from coal.” New technologies and alternative energy sources that support the establishment of infrastructures will likewise need to be developed.
With many countries looking to phase down coal over the coming decades, the study may be used to help plan for international collaboration and lesson sharing. There is little available evidence of transitions on the scale that China will face, and cooperation may open new approaches to study.
The Environmental and Health Costs
For China, its use of coal has major environmental and health implications. The burning of coal – responsible for coking ovens as used in sewage works – is one of the biggest sources of CO2 emissions on a worldwide scale, which its critics blame for climate change. It is a significant cause of China’s air pollution disaster that claims 1.1 million lives a year, as well.
It also speaks to the concern that workers and communities in legacy, carbon-intensive industries — such as coal mining-might be left behind as energy transitions from fossil fuels to an alternative mix. Nurturing and supporting them and their communities will be critically important for China if it is to succeed with decarbonizing.
Addressing these geopolitical, economic and technological challenges while also tackling the environmental and health legacy of coal occupation will require a myriad of solutions acting in concert. The process China goes through represents a valuable blueprint as other nations confront the need to phase out not just coal, but also oil and gas.
