China, India Led Slowdown in Coal Power Development, Study Says

  • 68 gigawatts of construction frozen in China, India in 2016
  • Greenpeace, Sierra Club study global coal development

A worker is reflected in a puddle as he walks towards a truck at an open cast coal mine in Jharkhand, India.

Photographer: Sanjit Das/Bloomberg
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China’s clampdown on new coal projects and a reluctance by backers to provide further funds in India are mainly responsible for last year’s drop in the amount of coal-powered generation capacity under development, environmental groups said in a report.

Greenpeace, the Sierra Club, and CoalSwarm found global pre-construction planning fell 48 percent and new construction starts dropped 62 percent last year compared with 2015, according to the report, titled “Boom and Bust 2017: Tracking The Global Coal Plant Pipeline.”