Global coal plant capacity under development shrank by 13% in 2021 compared to the previous year but steeper cuts are needed to achieve climate goals, according to Global Energy Monitor's (GEM) eighth annual survey of the coal plant pipeline published Tuesday.
GEM's Boom and Bust Coal 2022 report finds that after rising in 2020 for the first time since 2015, total coal power capacity under development declined from 525 gigawatts (GW) to 457 GW last year, a record low.
The number of countries with new coal plants under consideration dropped from 41 to 34 in this period.
Outside China, the global coal fleet shrank for the fourth year in a row last year.
Globally, 45 gigawatts of new coal capacity were commissioned in 2021, 56% of which came from China. China's share of coal under development increased by 7% in 2021 to 55%, equivalent to 251 GW, now accounting for over half of the capacity under development in the world for the first time.
However, the report shows the world still has more than 2,400 coal-fired power plants operating in 79 countries, for a total of nearly 2,100 GW of capacity.
An additional 176 GW of coal capacity is under construction at more than 189 plants and 280 GW is in pre-construction at 296 plants.
- Retiring coal plants are on rise but China offset retirements
In 2021, the operating coal fleet grew by a net 18.2 GW, a post-COVID rebound in a year that saw a slowdown in coal plant retirements.
However, newly commissioned capacity in China nearly offset coal plant retirements in the rest of the world.
The number of coal plants effectively given a close-by date nearly doubled to 750, or 550 GW, last year.
The amount of retired US coal capacity declined for the second consecutive year, from 16.1 GW in 2019, to 11.6 GW in 2020 and an estimated 9 GW in 2021.
The European Union's 27 member states retired a record 12.9 GW in 2021, with the most in Germany at 5.8 GW, Spain with 1.7 GW and Portugal with 1.9 GW. Portugal became coal-free in November 2021, nine years before its targeted 2030 phase-out date.
Only 170 plants with 89 GW of capacity, or 5% of the current operating fleet, are not covered by a phase-out date or carbon neutrality target. Still, few of these plants are scheduled to retire on the timelines required by the Paris climate agreement, according to the report.
Last year, Japan, South Korea and China pledged to end public support for new international coal plants, followed by a commitment from all G20 countries ahead of COP26. With these pledges, there is essentially no significant international public financier remaining for new coal plants.
Despite the capacity drop of the global coal fleet, progress needs to pick up the pace to meet the clear demands of climate science for a radical coal phase down within this decade.
The Intergovernmental Panel On Climate Change (IPCC) says that coal use needs to fall by 75% by 2030 for a 1.5°C pathway but business as usual means that while coal use eventually declines, current pledges are not enough to keep pace with a 1.5°C scenario.
By Nuran Erkul Kaya
Anadolu Agency