China has the greatest number of coal-fired power stations of any country or territory in the world. As of July 2023, there were 1,142 operational coal power plants on the Chinese Mainland. This was more than four times the number of such power stations in India, which ranked second. China accounts for over 50 percent of total global coal electricity generation.
Coal phase-out worldwide
Coal power plants present various health and environmental threats. Besides demanding large quantities of raw material to be burned, this energy source pollutes water and has high greenhouse gas emissions. Due to these reasons and to tackle the climate crisis, 40 countries committed to phase out their coal power plants at the COP26 summit in 2021. However, the three leading economies with the greatest number of operational coal-fired plants that year did not agree to the terms. In 2021, the global capacity of coal power plants in construction stood at 184.5 gigawatts with an additional 111.8 gigawatts announced.
Carbon dioxide emissions
China has been the largest coal polluter worldwide since 1990. In 2021, figures reached a record high of 7.96 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide. That year, India had the second largest carbon dioxide emissions from coal use, followed by the United States. The U.S. was either the largest or second-largest polluter for 55 years, before being overtaken by India.
