Beyond the fact that German disposable income is being sucked up by incredible gas and electricity prices, beyond the fact that as thing stand at this moment people are actually going to die because of a lack of heat this winter, beyond the fact that Germany's competitive advantage in export industries is being eroded, to the point whole industries (chemicals, heavy equipment, etc.) could disappear, is the fact that everything Germany has done with the energy turnaround (energiewende) of the last 20+ years won't lower the global temperature by 1/100th°C because of this, by their largest export competitor.
From the Associated Press via the Manila Times, April 24:
China to increase coal production
BEIJING: China is promoting coal-fired power as the ruling Communist Party tries to revive a sluggish economy, prompting warnings Beijing is setting back efforts to cut climate-changing carbon emissions from the biggest global source.
Official plans call for boosting coal production capacity by 300 million tons this year, according to news reports. That is equal to 7 percent of last year's output of 4.1 billion tons, which was an increase of 5.7 percent over 2020.
China is one of the biggest investors in wind and solar, but jittery leaders called for more coal-fired power after economic growth plunged last year and shortages caused blackouts and factory shutdowns.
Russia's attack on Ukraine added to anxiety that foreign oil and coal supplies might be disrupted.
"This mentality of ensuring energy security has become dominant, trumping carbon neutrality," said Li Shuo, a senior global policy adviser for Greenpeace.
"We are moving into a relatively unfavorable time period for climate action in China."
Officials face political pressure to ensure stability as President Xi Jinping prepares to try to break with tradition and award himself a third five-year term as ruling party leader in the autumn....
....MUCH MORE
We have been beating this drum for many years. China burns more than half of the world's coal. In fact, just the inextinguishable fires that burn in China's coal mines account for 1 - 3% of the world's CO2 emissions. We've been doing this so long it has almost a running joke. From April 20, 2022:
Have I mentioned that China has been lying about their climate goals and decarbonization efforts for 25 years?
It wouldn't be worth commenting on except for the fact China burns quite a bit of coal.
December 14:
China Is Now Backtracking On All Those Nice Global Warming Promises They Made At COP26
....China is not just the largest burner of coal but it burns more coal than the rest of the world combined, and they have burned more coal than the rest of the world combined since at least 2014 and probably longer.....
Let's Get This Straight: China Has No Intention Of Giving Up Coal
And dozens, maybe hundreds more.
