China
- A coal-dependent future?
[CSPP
Note: Looking back to the time of
this report, it means that China is building one new coal-fired power plant
about every five days. And Gore
said in Madrid that neither China nor the rest of the developing world should
have to reduce emissions now (http://ff.org/centers/csspp/library/co2weekly/20070316/20070316_02.html)]
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/newsnight/4330469.stm
By Susan
Watts
BBC Newsnight, science editor
9 March,
2005
With a rare glimpse
inside one of China's working coalmines, Newsnight's science editor, Susan
Watts, has been to find out if a coal-dependent future for China is inevitable.
Coal built China - and
fuels its relentless growth today. Eighty per cent of China's electricity comes
from coal, and there are plans for 544 new coal-fired power stations to meet an
insatiable demand for energy.
Yet coal is a prime
source of carbon dioxide - the global warming gas. If the power plants go
ahead, it will be all but impossible to avoid dangerous climate change.
Market forces
Traffic jams were unheard
of in Beijing just a few years ago. Now, one in four families in China owns a
car. Since China let in market forces, its politicians know they must keep
delivering economic prosperity to stay in power.
The whole city hopes to
get rich when the Olympics come to Beijing in three years' time.
|
Traffic jams in Beijing were
unheard of a few years ago |
China wants to be seen as
a vibrant, go-ahead nation. It's tearing down the Hutong courtyard homes of
Beijing's poorest, eager to banish their "Dickensian" alleyways.
In their place come
modern flats and all the energy-guzzling domestic appliances that go in them.
Over the past two
decades, China has put economic growth above all else, and with 200 million
Chinese still living on less than a dollar a day, relieving poverty remains
vital.
Coal offers the way out.
Nearly 80% of the country's electricity comes from coal. That's twice the
average, worldwide. And for the time being, as the demand for power grows, this
means one thing - more emissions of climate-changing gases.
Clear choices
For the Chinese
government's advisers the choices are clear.
"My understanding of
the Chinese government's point of view and ordinary people's point of view is
that you have to prioritise," Pan Juihua, executive director at the
Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told us.
|
|
Pan Juihua, Chinese Academy of
Social Sciences |
When
you have many problems you have to prioritise.
"When you have many
choices you have to consider the constraints, when you have many problems you
have to prioritise. When you have poverty you have to tackle poverty
first."
Supplying that energy
comes at a cost. On the day we arrived in China, 214 miners lost their lives in
a gas explosion. The safety figures suggest corners are being cut to maximise
supply.
Officially, 6,000 were
killed in China's coal mines just last year - that's 20 a day.
Methane explosions are
the main culprit. But it's not just a safety hazard - methane's also a
greenhouse gas, 20 times as damaging as carbon dioxide.
|
6,000 were killed in China's
coal mines just last year |
Most of the accidents
happen in China's small, private mines where high production figures count for
more than people's lives.
The skeletal structures
over the mine shafts mark each site of underground toil, dotted across the
landscape as we drove through China's coal-rich Shanxi province. Jumpy local
officials prevented us from filming here, such was their anxiety over what we
might see.
At our destination - a
state-run coal mine in northern China - they say they've had no deaths since
they started up three years ago. The mine supports a massive community of 3,000
miners, and their families.
Role model
The Sihe mine is being
held up as a role model. It's one of China's largest and most modern coal
mines, expected to produce 10 million tonnes of coal before the year's out.
|
|
Wen Shihua |
The
development of coal is the basis of the development of the country
It's the first mine in
China to tackle greenhouse gas emissions by capturing the methane released from
the earth as the coal is mined.
Before, the methane was
sent straight into the atmosphere. Now, it's diverted into a small gas-fired
power station.
The scheme generates
paper credits that the mine group has sold to the World Bank, for $20m. As well
as the extra money, the scheme should make the mine safer - with less methane
around.
It's a small first step
to making coal less damaging to the environment.
|
The Sihe mine is being held up
as a role model |
The head of the mining
group, Wen Shihua, wants others to take a bigger share of the task of cleaning
up the planet.
"We are a country
with a lot of coal, very little oil and very little gas. The development of
coal is the basis of the development of the country.
"There is no way
that we can replace our production of coal or use alternative sources of energy
to totally replace it. Because the US and some Western governments don't abide
by the Kyoto Protocol, they are not willing to reduce their carbon emissions...
we feel very annoyed about that."
Perpetual fires
But the scale of China's
own entangled history with coal is overwhelming. Right across northern China,
coal seams burn in un-stoppable fires.
Some have been burning
naturally for thousands of years, but others are being set alight by
small-scale mining operations seeking to cash in on soaring coal prices. Together,
these perpetual fires are letting off a total amount of carbon dioxide each
year equal to all the cars in the USA.
|
|
Desertification causes a
reduction in our natural resources" Yang Weixi, National Bureau to
Combat Desertification |
It's in China's interests
to limit its climate-changing emissions from coal because the effects are
already being felt.
Central Asia is drying
out, partly as a result of global warming - and it's going to get worse.
Deserts make up a quarter
of China's land - mostly in the north, and they're growing. After decades of
over-grazing and poor use of land, infertile soil and erosion are the result -
and the blinding red sandstorms that plague Beijing.
Climate scientists say
China's northern deserts are growing at an alarming rate, by several thousands
square kilometres every year.
Yang Weixi, chief
engineer at China's National Bureau to Combat Desertification, explained.
"Desertification causes a reduction in our natural resources and it
destroys our quality of life. People's living space is ever decreasing. It
affects farming, crop production and transport. It affects people's
lives."
Feeding destruction
The effects of climate
change could prove devastating for China's cities, too. Shanghai, like the rest
of China's eastern coastal cities, is built on a river delta.
It's desperately vulnerable
to flood. The bigger the city gets, the more energy it consumes, feeding its
own destruction by making sea-level rise due to global warming all the more
likely.
|
|
Professor Chen Zhongyuan |
We're
assuming that in the next 50 years the sea level here might be 50cm higher
"We're assuming that
in the next 50 years the sea level here might be 50cm higher than the present
sea level," Professor Chen Zhongyuan, of East China Normal University,
told us.
"That is a huge
concern for the people living here. We have 16 to 17 million people living here
so we need fresh water. If fresh water is affected by a salt water invasion,
then the whole city is collapsing. Shanghai is getting more and more important
for international trade, so we want to protect it..."
In fact, the latest
estimates suggest the impact of sea-level rise on Shanghai itself could be far
worse. The sea-level rises officials are expecting could hit in just 20 years,
not 50.
Need for change
Fundamental change is
what's needed. China's coal-based economy is entrenched, and there are plans
for another 500 coal-burning power stations.
What China does now will
decide how much damage it causes the world's atmosphere. If it builds these
coal-fired power stations it will push carbon dioxide concentrations right up
to the 400 parts per million level at which scientists expect dangerous climate
change.
Zhou Dadi, of Beijing's
Energy Research Institute, told us: "We need a new model of development
that means high-level living standards with lower emissions per capita. If we
can find such a model, China will follow that."
He wants Western
governments to offer technology partnerships that are not just about making a
fast buck in the new China. His country needs technical solutions that allow it
to burn coal without destroying the planet.