While many people are focusing on China adding renewable energy sources such as solar and wind to their energy production portfolio, they are also ignoring China’s large-scale construction of coal-fired power plants, fossil fuel production generators and mining for rare-earth minerals.
U.S. Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-SC Dist. 3) wants it to be highlighted that Chinese coal, fossil fuel and rare minerals should also be investigated.
"There’s no doubt that China is adding wind and solar and other renewables to their energy matrix,” Duncan told the Commerce Newswire recently. “They’re also building a heck of a lot of coal fired power plants, fossil fuel generation, mining rare Earths that they need for all the technology which is very detrimental to the environment. We’ve got to address those issues and China will be a big part of that."
The Wilson Center reported in June 2022 that China is currently building more than half of the world’s new coal-based power plants. Starting in 2021, China began to build 33 gigawatts worth of coal-based power generation plants, which is three times more than the rest of the world combined. China consumes nearly five times as much coal as India and nearly six times as much as the United States—the second and third largest coal consumers, respectively—and they are building even more new plants. China is also leading the world in terms of installed wind and solar power, and they are investing in energy storage batteries, electric vehicles and ultra-high transmission lines.
In 2021, the Institute of Energy Research issued a report on China's fossil fuel use. The country is investing heavily in oil-refining capacity and is about to unseat the United States as the world leader in petroleum refining, a position the U.S. has held for more than a century. China is also the world’s largest importer of natural gas. A 2014 deal with Russia’s Gazprom has China importing an average of 1.3 trillion cubic feet of natural gas a year through December 2049 from the newly constructed; 56-inch-diameter; 1,875-mile Power of Siberia pipeline.
In 2021, Mining.com released a report on the mining and refining of rare-earth minerals in China. In 2010, China held more than 97% of the global share of mining for rare-earth minerals. By 2019 that share had shrank to just under 63%. Eighty percent of the refining of rare-earth minerals happens in China, which means that even if a rare-earth mineral is mined in a country other than China, it could still be shipped there for refinement and final processing. The U.S. imports 80% of its rare-earth minerals from China. This trade deal was briefly held up in 2010 when China reduced their export quotas by 37%, causing prices to skyrocket. While this lasted for only one week, the U.S. and several other countries launched a joint dispute settlement case through the World Trade Organization, which ultimately ruled against China in 2014.
