A recently published environmental research report has revealed that China combusted record levels of coal in the first half of 2025. The joint report found that even though the country’s renewable energy capacity has expanded significantly, coal-fired power plants in China burned more coal in H1 2025 compared to any other six-month period since 2016.
Published by Finnish independent air-quality research firm Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) and American energy analytics organization Global Energy Monitor (GEM), the report notes that China brought a whopping 21 gigawatts (GW) worth of coal-fired energy online between January and July 2025.
As the largest polluter on the globe, China has gone to significant lengths to increase its renewable energy capacity and transition to green technologies like electric cars. The East Asian nation has invested tens of billions of dollars into deploying a vast network of wind and solar energy infrastructure, and currently boasts the world’s largest capacity of renewable energy.
However, China’s immense manufacturing industry is still heavily reliant on fossil fuels, specifically coal, and is responsible for an overwhelming portion of global greenhouse gas emissions. The coal-fired energy capacity Beijing deployed in the first half of 2025 is now the highest six-month deployment China has seen in nine years.
Furthermore, the joint report published by CREA and GEM notes that China will gain an additional 75 GW of coal-fired capacity from refiring 46 GW worth of existing coal plants coupled with proposed projects, and new construction.
The report predicts that China’s total coal plant output will reach 80-100 gigawatts this year. Coal is responsible for 50% of the East Asian country’s total energy production, a notable reduction from 75% in 2016. Even so, the data shows that even though China currently leads the world in renewable energy deployment and adoption, it still has quite a long way to go before it stops being reliant on fossil fuel-fired energy.
China’s record-breaking deployment of coal power plants in the first half of 2025 occurred simultaneously with a massive expansion of China’s green energy capacity that is now responsible for covering China’s growth in energy demand. The country’s solar energy capacity surged by 212 gigawatts between January and July 2025, putting China on track to deploy enough green energy capacity to fulfill the energy needs of both the UK and Germany combined in 2025.
While this renewables expansion has resulted in a modest 1% drop in six-month emissions year-on-year, China’s continued coal buildout threatens to undermine these gains.
The contradiction highlights China’s complex energy challenge as it attempts to balance rapid industrial growth with climate commitments. President Xi Jinping may have pledged to strictly control coal development and phase it down between 2026 and 2030, but powerful coal interests continue to secure long-term contracts that keep coal-fired power plants operational.
With China expected to announce its 2035 emissions reduction targets before November’s COP30 climate summit, the second largest economy on the globe faces mounting pressure to reconcile its renewable energy leadership with its persistent reliance on coal.
Given that China is home to some of the leading EV manufacturers taking the competition to their American rivals like Bollinger Innovations, Inc. (NASDAQ: BINI), it is important that they tame their appetite for coal so that the clean technologies they are developing can have a meaningful impact on arresting climate change.
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