China gears up for peak emissions season with record coal imports

Emissions from China’s power sector are set to hit new highs over the coming summer as rising temperatures spur in-creased air conditioner use just as factories and heavy industry continue to expand output from last year’s pandemic-hit levels.

Consecutive record months of thermal coal imports in March and April also indicate that utilities are bracing to crank coal-fired power generation as they look to keep pace with the anticipated climb in overall power demand, reports Reuters.

As China accounts for roughly 40per cent of worldwide power sector emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other gases, data from Ember shows, any sustained climb in discharge from the world’s top polluter stands to potentially undermine efforts to cap global emissions totals. China’s average temperatures in 2022 were 1.5 -2.0 degrees Celsius above the 1971-2000 average, according to data compiled by the Institute for Environmental Analytics.

Long-range weather forecasts for central and southern China call for temperatures to average around 3.0-3.5per cent above the long-term average this July and August, data from Refinitiv shows, and may trend higher as the peak summer period nears.

The combination of the long-term rise in average temperatures alongside above-normal forecasts for the upcoming sum-mer look set to trigger record demand for airconditioning this year, especially across the populous east and south which are among the warmest parts of the country.

Additional increases in coal imports are likely if power producers expect demand from air conditioner use to rise alongside further gains in industrial power consumption.