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More than 1,000 new coal plants planned worldwide, figures show
November 21, 2012
More than 1,000 new coal plants planned worldwide, figures show
World Resources Institute (WRI) identifies 1,200 coal plans in planning across 59 countries, with about three-quarters in China and India. Coal plants are the most polluting of all power stations. The capacity of new plants add up to 1,400GW to global greenhouse gas emissions, equivalent of adding another China ? the world’s biggest emitter.
The huge planned expansion comes despite warnings from politicians, scientists and campaigners that the planet’s fast-rising carbon emissions must peak within a few years if runaway climate change is to be avoided and that fossil fuel assets risk becoming worthless if international action on global warming moves forward.
“This is definitely not in line with a safe climate scenario ? it would put us on a really dangerous trajectory,” said the WRI’s Ailun Yang, who compiled the report. But she said that new emission limits proposed in the US and a voluntary cap on coal use in China could begin to turn the tide. “These policies would give really strong signals about the risks to the future financial performance of coal climate policies.”
Guy Shrubsole, at Friends of the Earth, said of the WRI report: “This is a scary number of coal-fired plants being planned. It is clear that the vested interests of coal companies are driving this forward and that they will have to be reined in by the governments.”
Read more at The Guardian.
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