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Global coal fleet shrinks for the first time ever during pandemic

The global coal fleet has shrunk for the first time on record, with more capacity shuttered than opened in the first half of this year.

According to data from the California-based NGO Global Energy Monitor (GEM), which maps the world’s coal generating stations, the 2.9 GW decline in electricity generating capacity takes the global total down to 2,047 GW.

The COVID-19 pandemic slowed plant commissioning processes and thereby partly explains the drop, says the report. Record retirements in Europe – the result of more stringent pollution policies – also played a role. New coal plant activity in the first six months of this year was primarily centred in China, which approved the largest number of coal-fired power stations since 2016. The country is now home to half of the world’s operational coal fleet.

However, other south and south-east Asian countries have curtailed their coal build-out plans – with Vietnam mulling the cancellation of 9.5 GW of capacity and Bangladesh discussing freezing the development of 16.3 GW of new plants.

In an article for the website CarbonBrief, Dr Christine Shearer, Programme Director for coal at GEM, noted that meeting climate goals will require ‘a much more rapid reduction’ in the use of coal power. Generation must fall by at least half before 2030 in pathways that restrict warming to well below 2°C, and up to three-quarters for 1.5°C.

Meanwhile, the climate think-tank Ember has reported that wind and solar generated 10% of the world’s electricity in the first half of this year – a figure that represents a doubling of their market share since the signing of the Paris Agreement in 2015. Ember’s figures show that the two renewable resources generated almost as much carbon-free power as nuclear power plants, which produced 10.5% of global electricity in the first half of this year.

The think-tank’s half-year analysis aggregated national electricity generation for 48 countries making up 83% of global electricity production. It also found that many key nations now generate one-tenth (or more) of their electricity from wind and solar, including China, India, Japan and Brazil. The EU and UK were substantially higher with 21% and 33% respectively.

But Ember also notes that the world’s electricity transition is off track for meeting the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C pathway. It calculates that coal must fall by 13% every year this decade – noting that even in the face of COVID-19, coal generation fell just 8% during the first half of 2020.

News Item details


Journal title: Energy World

Organisation: Global Energy Monitor

Subjects: Coal, Coronavirus, COVID-19

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