China: Unchecked expansion of coal power

China continued to build and approve coal-fired power plants unabated in the first half of 2023. From January to June 2023, the construction of new coal-fired power plants with a capacity of 37 gigawatts (GW) began, according to the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) on X (formerly Twitter). During this period, Beijing also approved 52 GW of new coal capacity, of which 10 GW are already under construction. An additional 41 GW were announced by various actors, and eight GW of previously suspended coal projects were revived.