The charity reviewed project approval documents, finding that 20.45GW of new coal was approved in the first quarter of 2023, which more than doubled to 50.4GW by the end of the second quarter.

This is despite the 2020 announcement from Chinese President Xi Jinping that his country aims to reach net zero carbon by 2060 and peak CO2 emissions by 2030.

The coal power and steel sectors are China’s two largest emitters of CO2, and there is no sign of investment in coal-based capacity being scaled back yet.

Permitting new coal power projects was essentially frozen in 2021, as the Chinese leadership emphasised strictly controlling high-emissions projects. However, reflecting shifting political signals, new coal power projects restarted in 2022 as gas prices spiked in the wake of the Ukraine war.

New coal-based power plants and integrated steel plants have a typical lifetime of 20-40 years and will lock the sectors further into coal dependency.

Gao Yuhe, a Beijing...