China energy firms must take action on climate: Greenpeace

Yahoo News 28 Jul 09;

BEIJING (AFP) – China's energy firms must do more to combat climate change and reduce dependence on coal, environmental group Greenpeace said on Tuesday, warning of a rise in "extreme" weather.

"China is suffering the pains of extreme weather events such as droughts, heatwaves, typhoons and floods, worsened by climate change," Greenpeace China's climate campaigner Yang Ailun said as he unveiled a new report.

"These power companies can and must help China to prevent climate disaster by rapidly increasing efficiency and the share of renewable energy such as wind and solar."

The new Greenpeace China report urged China's top 10 power companies to take the lead in addressing global warming and cutting greenhouse gas emissions as they are the biggest emitters.

"To ensure energy security, environmental protection and healthy economic and societal development, the electricity sector... must play a strong role in tackling climate change and reducing China's reliance on coal," the report said.

For every one kilowatt hour of energy produced, China emits 1.8 times more carbon dioxide than the average in Japan's electricity sector and significantly more than in Germany and the United States, it said.

The report urged the government to drive the nation's energy companies towards renewable energy by implementing environmental and energy taxes on coal burning.

China should also double its national renewable energy target for 2020 to 30 percent of total energy production, it said.

China's power companies must quicken the pace of shutting down or converting inefficient power plants and should be made to publish detailed strategies on addressing climate change and reducing carbon emissions, it said.

China is adding energy capacity at a rapid speed, but power generated by coal continues to account for about 70 percent of the overall mix, the report said.

In 2008, China's biggest three power companies China Huaneng, China Datang and China Guodian emitted more greenhouse gases than all the United Kingdom, it added.

Emissions of 3 big China power firms exceed UK: report
Reuters 28 Jul 09;

BEIJING (Reuters) - Greenhouse gas emissions from the three biggest Chinese power firms in 2008 were higher than those of the entire United Kingdom, activist group Greenpeace said on Tuesday in a report that called for an environmental tax on coal.

The emissions-intensive fuel provides China with well over two-thirds of its electricity, and years of booming energy demand have had a massive impact on the Asian giant's carbon footprint.

China's 10 biggest power generators burned through a combined 600 million tons of coal last year alone, or around one fifth of the country's entire output, the report said.

They are reliant on the dirty fuel because it is cheap and the country has vast reserves that can meet most domestic demand.

"By burning 20 percent of China's coal in 2008, the (10 power) companies emitted an equivalent of 1.44 billion tons of carbon dioxide," the report said.

The country's three largest firms by installed generating capacity -- China Huaneng Group, China Datang Corp and China Guodian Corp -- were responsible for more than half of those greenhouse gases, or 769 million tons, the report said.

Greenpeace calculated emissions estimates by using fuel data combined with Chinese government figures on the amount of carbon dioxide produced when coal is burned in China's power stations.

In contrast, the provisional estimate for total 2008 emissions in the United Kingdom -- which has power generating capacity barely one-tenth of China's -- is 623.8 million tons.

The need to fuel rapid economic growth and worries about compromising energy security mean China will not turn away from coal in the short-term.

China is the world's biggest annual emitter of greenhouse gasses but on a per capita basis and over the course of history it is far outpaced by Western nations that have smaller populations and have enjoyed decades of emissions intensive growth.

But Greenpeace said it wanted Beijing to curb output of greenhouse gasses by putting an environmental tax on coal prices and set tighter efficiency and renewable energy targets.

The report also underlined China's progress in shutting down its least efficient, small power stations.

Generating capacity equivalent to more than all of Australia's installed capacity, or some 54 gigawatts (GW), has been taken offline over the past three and a half years.

This has helped cut the coal used to generate each unit of power to 350 grams per kilowatt hour or less at the big firms. Another 31 GW are scheduled to go by the end of 2012.

China says it is already working hard to curb growth in emissions, but should not be asked to take any steps that would undermine economic growth when it still has millions of citizens living in poverty.

Beijing wants rich nations to offer more technical and financial support to developing nations seeking greener growth.

(Reporting by Emma Graham-Harrison, Editing by Dean Yates)

China's three biggest power firms emit more carbon than Britain, says report
Greenpeace report names top three polluters and calls for tax on coal to improve efficiency and encourage switch to renewables
Tania Branigan, guardian.co.uk 28 Jul 09;

China's three biggest power firms produced more greenhouse gas emissions last year than the whole of Britain, according to a Greenpeace report published today.

The group warned that inefficient plants and the country's heavy reliance on coal are hindering efforts to tackle climate change. While China's emissions per capita remain far below those of developed countries, the country as a whole has surpassed the United States to become the world's largest emitter.

Greenpeace said the top 10 companies, which provided almost 60% of China's total electricity last year, burned 20% of China's coal — 590m tonnes — and emitted the equivalent of 1.44 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide.

The efficiency of Chinese power generation compares unfavourably with other countries. In Japan, 418 grams of carbon dioxide are emitted per kilowatt hour and in the US, the equivalent figure is 625 grams. But most of the top 10 firms in China produce 752 grams of CO2.

"China is suffering the pains of extreme weather events such as droughts, heat waves, typhoons and floods, worsened by climate change. These power companies can and must help China to prevent climate disaster by rapidly increasing efficiency and the share of renewable energy such as wind and solar," said Yang Ailun, Greenpeace's climate campaign manager, at the launch in Beijing of the Greenpeace report, Polluting Power: Ranking China's Biggest Power Companies.

The report says that in 2008, Huaneng, Datang and Guodian — the top three firms — emitted more greenhouse gases than the whole of the United Kingdom.

But Yang added: "China is ideally placed to…[become] the world's superpower in terms of smart energy and renewable energy."

The group said China closed down 54.07 gigawatt of the least efficient coal-fired plants over the last three and a half years — more than the total electricity installed capacity of Australia.

It urged power firms to phase out all inefficient coal-fired plants under 100 megawatt by 2012, saving 90m tonnes of coal consumption and 220m tonnes of carbon dioxide annually.

Firms are already turning to renewable energy and by the end of last year Guodian had installed 2.88 gigawatt of wind power; almost 24% of China's total and enough to make it the biggest wind energy firm in Asia.

But Greenpeace said only three of the top 10 produced 10% or more of their energy from renewable sources. The vast majority relied heavily on hydropower — with eight of the firms not even halfway to their legal obligation to produce 3% of energy from other renewable sources by 2010.

Greenpeace urged the Chinese government to impose energy and environment taxes on coal, encouraging increased efficiency and a move to renewable sources.

It also called for a doubling of the national renewable energy target to 30% by 2020 and for stricter efficiency standards for coal-fired power stations.

The State Council, China's cabinet, is currently drawing up plans for a massive "new energy" programme to cut emissions and ensure energy security. Reports in the domestic media and from foreign diplomats suggest the next decade could see between 1.4 trillion (US$200 bn) and 4.5 trillion yuan (US$600bn) investment in projects ranging from nuclear power, low carbon transport and clean coal technology to super-efficient electric grids.

This huge expansion is already causing problems. Manufacturing capacity is outstripping supply and the country's under-invested power grid networks were not ready for large-scale wind power input. Some wind farms have been unable to start operating because of a lack of grid connection or were operating at levels lower than planned.

But experts warn that de-carbonising the energy supply must happen fast, given the massive toll on China's environment. State news agency Xinhua reported yesterday that the country's largest desert lake could vanish in decades due to climate change and human activities.

"Just 10 years ago, one couldn't see the other bank of the Hongjiannao even through a telescope. Today, it's visible with the naked eye," said He Fenqi, a researcher with the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

The Hongjiannao, sandwiched between the Muus Desert in Shaanxi Province and the Erdos Plateau in Inner Mongolia, has shrunk by at least 30% in the past two decades, Xinhua reported. It now covers 4,600 hectares and its water level is declining by 20 centimetres annually.