Phasing out fossil fuels is unrealistic as oil, natural gas, and coal will continue to play a crucial role in global energy supply and energy security, China's special climate envoy Xie Zhenhua said this week in a speech obtained by Reuters.
"It is unrealistic to completely phase out fossil fuel energy," Xie, who will represent China at COP28 in Dubai in November, told ambassadors in Beijing ahead of the climate summit.
China is the world's biggest consumer of coal and the largest importer of crude oil.
Despite soaring renewable power capacity installations in recent years, China continues to consume growing volumes of coal, oil, and natural gas and continues to approve the construction of new coal-fired power capacity.
China is also building or planning to build some 366 gigawatts in new coal generation capacity, accounting for some 68% of global planned new coal capacity as of 2022.
During the first half of 2023 alone, China approved more than 50 GW of new coal power, Greenpeace said in a report last month.
China is relying on coal to avoid blackouts as the economy reopened after the Covid lockdowns.
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