China Pledges New Coal-Fired Projects to Deal with Climate Change

China is under a lot of diplomatic pressure to stop funding coal projects in other countries because it might make it simpler for the country to stick to the Paris agreement on climate change, which aims to reducing carbon emissions.

According to the United Nations Secretary - general, countries must stop using coal to generate energy by 2030, and the rest of the globe by 2040.

What is the Paris agreement on climate change? The Paris Agreement on Climate Change is a legally binding international agreement about climate change. It was agreed by 196 Parties at the United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP 21) in Paris on December 12, 2015 and went into effect on November 4, 2016.

Its objective is to keep global warming below 2 degrees Celsius, ideally 1.5, relative to pre-industrial levels.

Coal-Fired Projects in China Takes a Huge Halt to Prevent Climate Change from Worsening

President Xi Jinping declared that China will stop developing new coal-fired power stations outside of China, using his address to the United Nations General Assembly to contribute to climate change promises.

A coal-fired power plant, often known as a coal power station, is a thermal power plant that generates electricity by burning coal. Coal-fired power plants produce a third of the world's electricity, but they also kill hundreds of thousands of people prematurely every year, primarily due to air pollution.

It is one of the several types of fossil-fuel power plants. In a pulverized coal-fired boiler, the coal is crushed before being burnt. The heat from the furnace turns boiler water into steam, which is subsequently utilized to power generators via turbines. As a result, the chemical energy held in coal is transformed into thermal energy, mechanical energy, and then electrical energy.

Coal-fired power plants generate about 10 Gt of carbon dioxide each year, accounting for a fifth of global greenhouse gas emissions, making them the single most significant contributor to climate change. China generates more than half of all coal-fired power in the globe. The overall number of plants began to decline in 2020, as they were decommissioned in Europe and America.

According to Joanna Lewis, head of science, technology, and international affairs at Georgetown University, the three nations China, South Korea, and Japan were responsible for more than 95 percent of all foreign finance for coal-fired power facilities, with China accounting for the majority.

According to research released in April by analytical firm Transition Zero, China will have to shut down 600 coal-fired power facilities in the next decade and replace them with renewable electricity generation to meet its target of net-zero emissions at least by 2060.

Unless China drastically cuts its emissions in the next ten years, the world has little hope of staying below 1.5 degrees Celsius.

Also read: Global Reef Systems Affected by Severe Climate Change

Promises by Certain Countries Found to be Insufficient in Stopping Climate Change

The bulk of the emissions reduction promises made under the Paris Agreement by 184 nations are insufficient to keep global warming well below 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit (2 degrees Celsius). According to a panel of international climate experts, some nations will not meet their promises, and several of the world's top carbon polluters will continue to grow their emissions.

However, the study revealed that over 75 percent of the 184 promises for 2030 were insufficient. China and India, the world's first and fourth largest polluters, will have greater emissions in 2030. The United States is the second-largest contributor, yet its promise is insufficient. Given the Trump administration's departure from the agreement, it is also in doubt.

Russia, the world's fifth-largest emitter, has made no commitment at all. Only the European Union, the world's third-largest emitter, has promised to cut emissions by at least 40% by 2030, with a near-60% decrease predicted.

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