China approved 11.29 gigawatts (GW) of new coal power capacity in the first quarter of 2025, raising concerns about the country’s clean energy goals, according to new research from Greenpeace East Asia.
The environmental group said the latest approvals come after a 41.5% drop in new coal-fired power plant approvals in 2024, which totaled 62.24 GW. Despite this decline, China has now approved 289 GW of coal capacity since 2021—twice the amount approved between 2015 and 2020.
At the same time, China’s installed wind and solar capacity reached 1,482 GW, overtaking thermal power’s 1,450 GW for the first time. Wind and solar power also surpassed the growth in national electricity demand, marking a key milestone.
“This is a turning point,” said Gao Yuhe, climate and energy project manager at Greenpeace East Asia in Beijing. “If the current trend continues, renewable energy could meet all of China’s new electricity demand in 2025.”
However, Gao warned that the continued push for coal expansion could derail this progress. Since 2021, coal project approvals have accelerated in both eastern and western provinces. The five provinces with the highest newly approved capacity from 2021 to the first quarter of 2025 are Guangdong (28.02 GW), Jiangsu (23.84 GW), Inner Mongolia (20.75 GW), Anhui (19.18 GW), and Shaanxi (17.39 GW).
The report also found that large-scale coal plants—those with a capacity of 600 megawatts or more—dominated the first-quarter approvals. These units made up 88.9% of the new capacity approved so far in 2025, up from 69.6% in 2024.
“There is already enough coal capacity to handle today’s peak demand,” Gao said. “Adding more large-scale coal projects could lead to overcapacity, stranded investments, and higher costs during the transition. That would slow down progress toward a cleaner and more flexible power system.”
Environmental groups and energy experts argue that overbuilding coal infrastructure may not only waste resources but also lock China into a higher-emissions energy future.
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