A coal-fired plant in China. Credit: own garden / Moment / Getty 

Scientists have said that, in order to limit global heating to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and avoid the worst impacts of the climate crisis, all or almost all of coal burning must cease by 2050. 

Yet in 2022, China produced a record amount of coal at 4.496 billion tonnes, which is nine percent more than the year before, according to National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) data reported by Reuters. This isn’t necessarily a surprise, as China joined Europe in emphasizing domestic energy security in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the global energy crisis, even if that means relying on the dirtiest fossil fuel.

“We don’t want to be like Europe and transform at the cost of energy security. They are now declaring that they are taking a step back in order to take two steps forward later,” Tsinghua University climate change and energy professor Li Zheng said in November 2022, as OilPrice.com reported. 

China maintained at the COP27 climate conference in Egypt last year […]

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