Report says new coal plant construction surged in China in 2025
China opened many more coal power plants in 2025 than it had in recent years even as its wind and solar buildout accelerated, according to a report released this week that raises questions about whether the country can cut emissions fast enough to slow climate change.
The joint report by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air and Global Energy Monitor said more than 50 large coal units—each defined as a boiler and turbine set with generating capacity of 1 gigawatt or more—were commissioned in 2025. The groups said the rate represented a sharp jump from fewer than 20 such units a year during the previous decade.
The report also said China brought 78 gigawatts of new coal power capacity online in 2025. The authors said the scale matters because a 1-gigawatt unit can power from several hundred thousand to more than 2 million homes, depending on energy use.
In comments accompanying the report, Christine Shearer, a co-author of the study from Global Energy Monitor, called the construction pace “staggering” and compared it to India. Shearer said, “In 2025 alone, China commissioned more coal power capacity than India did over the entire past decade.”
At the same time, the report said wind and solar additions were large enough to nudge down coal’s share of total electricity generation last year. The report said power from coal fell about 1% as growth in cleaner energy sources covered all the increase in electricity demand in 2025.
The report pointed to government data on clean-energy capacity additions: China added 315 gigawatts of solar capacity and 119 gigawatts of wind in 2025, using figures from the National Energy Administration. Still, the coal buildout prompted the report’s central question: why China is commissioning so much new coal capacity despite the rapid expansion of renewables.
The answer the report describes is tied to China’s development stage and energy security, it said. It said the country needs more power to keep growing because demand rises as households move into the middle class and buy energy-intensive appliances, while factories require electricity to keep running. It also said electricity demand is shaped by artificial intelligence, a government priority as China seeks leadership in technology.
The report said power shortages in parts of China in 2021 and 2022 reinforced concerns about energy security, including a period when drought affected hydropower in western China. It said some factories temporarily halted production and one city imposed rolling blackouts, and that China’s response was to encourage more coal plants, which led to a surge in applications and permits.
The report said the surge in permitting in 2022-23 drove the jump in coal capacity commissioned in 2025, because once permits are issued, projects are difficult to reverse. It said Qi Qin, an analyst at the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air and another co-author of the report, warned, “Once permits are issued, projects are difficult to reverse.”
Looking ahead, the report said construction started on 83 gigawatts of coal power last year, suggesting additional new capacity may come online in 2026. The report said that possibility adds pressure to manage coal’s role so the power system’s shift toward wind and solar is not slowed.
On the policy side, the report said China’s stance is that coal provides stable backup when wind and solar outputs vary by weather and time of day. It said the shortages in 2022 were partly linked to drought hitting hydropower and described guidance issued last year by China’s National Development and Reform Commission calling for coal to “play an important underpinning and balancing role” for years to come as the country improves coal plants’ cleanliness and efficiency.
The report also cited the China Coal Transportation and Distribution Association, an industry group, saying coal-fired power would remain essential for power-system stability even as other sources replace it. But the report’s authors said the risk in building so much capacity is that political and financial pressure could keep coal plants running, leaving less room for cleaner power sources.
Qin said the main risk is that coal expansion could delay the transition, including by constraining space for renewables. She said the emissions impact would depend on whether coal’s role is “genuinely constrained to backup and supporting rather than baseload generation,” as the report put it.
The report urged China to accelerate the retirement of aging and inefficient coal plants and to commit in its next five-year plan, which is scheduled to be approved in March, to ensuring that power-sector emissions do not increase between 2025 and 2030.