Maybe this will accelerate the transition away from coal for China. That would be pretty awesome.
China didn't say they were targeting a net reduction in building coal, only that they weren't going to be building coal for anyone else.
This is likely due to the projected increase in demand for coal in China and a realistic assessment about how resource constrained they are.
And to be clear, while collapse of fossil fuels, something people have been concerned about for decades, will be better for the planet, it will still mean a rapid decline in our standard of living and essentially the collapse of modern industrial society.
China also announced a partnership with Australia that would replace existing coal trade agreements between China and Australia with a massive solar farm in the Australian desert and planning for the worlds largest planned high voltage DC corridor between continents.
ETA Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia%E2%80%93ASEAN_Power_...
tldr; I for one would prefer coal plants under Chinese jurisdiction than coal plants funded by the Chinese in other countries where they have less ability and pressure to replace them.
China has a horrible environmental track record, they cause more carbon pollution than the developing world combined, and despite being a rich country they are still massively increasing their carbon outputs.
The fact they are a communist dictatorship doesn't inspire any confidence that they might one day suddenly start to value the environment any more than they do now. They will move away from coal as soon as it become economically advantageous to do so and no sooner, which is not all that different to how poorer countries will deal with their coal generation.
The incentives are aligned, the solar panels are made in China, by Chinese companies, and as it turns out another domestic industry (construction) is collapsing so they need a new, major domestic economic boost. I predict it will be renewable power, it's both in their interest and boosts their international profile.
I don't agree that China has that bad a track record, they seem to be very willing to take dramatic actions if they feel it is in their self interest (recently, bitcoin for instance).
I think it is in their self-interest to phase out coal for domestically manufactured solar since it will juice their economy, give their entire economy a generational advantage over legacy systems, and help protect their domestic food production.
> I don't agree that China has that bad a track record, they seem to be very willing to take dramatic actions if they feel it is in their self interest (recently, bitcoin for instance).
Oh they definitely have a horrible track record on carbon pollution (as well as a lot of other things like ocean plastic pollution, over fishing, endangered animal trade, illegal CFC emissions, and all sorts of horrible things. They are by far the biggest carbon polluter on the planet, larger than the entire western world combined, and yet they still plan to vastly increase carbon pollution and demand concessions in international carbon agreements. They're horrible.
And I do think the incentive is stronger for them from an economic standpoint.
Consider the extreme case where they build enough coal plants to entirely power their electrical grid at the capacity they want.
Now they get a chance to install new solar facilities, manufacture those solar panels, deconstruct the coal plants, and on top of it get kudos internationally for shutting down coal? I think it's a lot more incentive than just the cost of installation, it's totally different since they make the panels too.
Same way that coal mining companies want there to be more coal plants in the US... China is the country with all the sun mining companies, and seems intent on keeping it that way.
Other energy solutions (green energy, nuclear) will take time and effort to develop.