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Despite President Xi Jinping declaring China’s carbon emissions will peak before the end of the decade, coal-fired power plant construction reached its highest level in almost a decade.
“Even as China’s renewables skyrocketed in 2024, with solar and wind surging month after month throughout the year, the country remains embroiled in coal, leaning on the dirty fuel to meet high energy demands,” a report from Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (Crea) and Global Energy Monitor (GEM) says.
“China’s continued coal power expansion is undermining the country’s clean energy progress.”
The report says that, in 2024, coal power construction activity surged to 94.5GW, its highest level since 2015. This, the report’s authors believe, reinforces coal’s “entrenched role” in the power system.
That being said, China approved 66.7GW of new coal-fired power capacity, with approvals “picking up in the second half after a slower start to the year”.
China’s reliance on coal
China’s renewable energy sector achieved unprecedented growth in 2024, with a record-breaking addition of 356GW of wind and solar capacity.
In 2024, electricity generated by coal reached a record low — with coal-generated electricity now making up 53% of China’s power generation thanks to a surge of its energy coming from clean alternatives
Although this solidifies its position as a global leader in clean energy deployment, this progress is overshadowed by the simultaneous expansion of coal power — which the report says poses significant challenges to China's transition away from fossil fuels.
Rather than phasing out coal, the clean energy surge is being superimposed on the existing coal-dominated infrastructure, complicating efforts to pivot towards a power sector primarily driven by renewables.
James Forrest, Capgemini’s EVP Global Energy Transition & Utilities Industry Leader, shares his thoughts on China’s fossil fuel-centric move.
“Despite being the world’s largest investor in renewables, China approved more coal-fired power plants in 2023 than in any year over the past decade,” he says.
“This highlights a fundamental challenge in the energy transition: scaling clean energy isn’t enough if fossil fuel capacity continues to expand.
“Energy security remains a key driver of China’s strategy, but the long-term risk is clear. More coal locks in emissions for decades, making it harder to meet global climate targets.
“The focus now needs to shift beyond just adding renewables — grid flexibility, large-scale storage and market reforms must accelerate to make clean energy the default, not just an addition.”
China’s energy approach
Aside from its achievements and renewable credentials, China is the world’s biggest emitter of greenhouse gases.
The country makes up a little under a third of global emissions.
“China's rapid expansion of renewable energy has the potential to reshape its power system, but this opportunity is being undermined by the simultaneous large-scale expansion of coal power,” Qi Qin, lead author of the report and China Analyst at CREA, says.
“The continued approval and construction of new coal plants — often driven by industry interests and outdated contracts rather than actual grid needs — risks locking China into fossil fuel dependence at a time when flexibility is crucial for integrating clean energy.
“Without decisive policy shifts, China’s energy transition will remain an ‘energy addition’ rather than a true transformation away from coal.”
Research Analyst at Global Energy Monitor Christine Shearer adds: “Chinese coal power and mining companies are sponsoring and building new coal plants beyond what is needed to back up the country’s impressive growth in solar and wind power.
“The continued pursuit of coal is crowding out the country’s use of lower-cost clean energy, and is threatening to undermine President Xi’s 2021 pledge to strictly limit coal consumption and phase it down over the next five years.”
Will renewables ever dominate China's energy mix?
“China’s role is critical in reaching the global goal of tripling renewables because the country is expected to install more than half of the new capacity required globally by 2030,” the International Energy Agency (IEA) says.
“At the end of the forecast period, almost half of China's electricity generation will come from renewable energy sources.”
It also says that, in 2023, the country commissioned as much solar PV as the entire world did in 2022.
China’s wind additions also grew by 66% year-on-year.
Equally, the IEA says a faster clean energy rollout is being led by solar power in China. The body expects the country will be home to half of the world's renewables before the end of the decade.
“If I could sum this up in two words they would be: China, solar,” Executive Director Dr Datoh Birol says.
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