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Norman Harsono and Eddie Spence, Bloomberg
A coal-fired power station in Indonesia that was due to “close down early and act as a flagship for efforts to shift Asia’s economies away from the fossil fuel” has cancelled plans to shut down ahead of schedule, Bloomberg reports. Under an agreement between Indonesia’s government, the Asian Development Bank and other partners struck at the COP28 climate summit in Dubai in 2023, Cirebon-1 in West Java was meant to close seven years early, the publication says. However, Indonesia’s chief finance minister told journalists earlier today that the government was cancelling the early closure as the station “still has a long lifespan and uses super critical technology, which is relatively better”, adding: “We are looking for an alternative.” Reuters reports that the “Cirebon deal has been seen as a test case for the early retirement of coal-fired power plants in developing countries under the Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP)”.
Rajesh Kumar Singh, Bloomberg
Bloomberg reports that India is mulling “an unprecedented increase in coal power capacity, potentially building new plants until at least 2047”. It continues: “The proposal, currently under discussion between the power ministry and the government’s policymaking agency NITI Aayog, marks a major shift from current projections that see net additions peaking by 2035, said the people, who asked not to be named. Industry leaders will be informed as soon as the numbers are finalised, the people added.” The publication says that the plan “ties in with prime minister Narendra Modi’s ambition to make the nation energy independent and upgrade its status from developing to developed nation by 2047”. It continues: “With enough reserves to last a century, policymakers are picking coal as the top option to reach those goals…The government also envisions a rapid expansion of renewables and battery storage systems, but these sources are fraught with geopolitical risks, the people said.” It adds that a government spokesperson did not respond to a request to comment.
MORE ON INDIA
Reuters reports that “India's federal government cannot stop states from building clean energy projects even as federal agencies struggle with nearly 50 gigawatts (GW) of unsold renewable power”. Another Reuters story says that “India's steel exports to Europe are expected to fall once the European Union's carbon tax takes effect next month”.
Ade Yuandha And Niniek Karmini, The Associated Press
The death toll from catastrophic floods in Asia has exceeded 1,500 people as rescue efforts continued yesterday, the Associated Press reports. More rainfall is still expected in Indonesia, the newswire says. It continues: “The tragedy was compounded by warnings that decades of deforestation caused by unchecked development, mining and palm oil plantations may have worsened the devastation. Calls grew for the government to act.”
Emily Gosden and Oliver Wright, The Times
A frontpage story in the Times says that the UK government’s plan to cut energy bills by £150 a year will be “largely wiped out by new levies on electricity and gas prices announced by the energy regulator” yesterday. It reports: “Households face paying an extra £116 a year by 2030 to fund £90bn of spending to expand Britain’s power grid and maintain its gas pipelines. This comes on top of other bill increases over the next five years that will fund new offshore windfarms and the Sizewell C nuclear power plant. An analysis carried out for the Times suggests that, even after the government’s bill discount is applied, households will still be paying more for power by the end of the decade than they were when Labour came to power last year.” Separately, the Times examines whether Labour can meet its pledge to cut energy bills by £300 a year by 2030. The Daily Telegraph reports that, according to “Whitehall sources”, “[energy secretary] Ed Miliband opposed [chancellor] Rachel Reeves’s plan to reduce green taxes on energy bills” ahead of the budget.
MORE ON UK
The Daily Telegraph reports that the main backer of the Acorn carbon capture and storage project in Scotland has said it wants to sell its stake in the scheme. Renewable power generation in Northern Ireland continued to “slide backwards” in the last year, BBC News reports. Continuing its criticism of the government’s key climate personnel, the Daily Telegraph reports that UK climate envoy Rachel Kyte “racked up” 150,000 air miles in the last year. [It is her job to represent the UK at international events.] The Times and Daily Telegraph both report on figures suggesting that growth in electric cars in the UK slowed to the weakest level in almost two years last month. However, BusinessGreen covers separate figures showing that EVs “continued to perform strongly in November, accounting for over a quarter of the new car market for the second month in succession”. The government is searching the UK for a suitable site for a new large nuclear reactor, Ed Miliband has said, according to Reuters.
Finbarr Bermingham, South China Morning Post
The EU has launched its first review of tariffs placed on electric vehicles (EVs) made in China to see if they can be replaced with a “managed price system”, the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post (SCMP) reports. The review is being conducted on EVs manufactured by Volkswagen’s Chinese joint venture in Anhui province, it adds. The EU has outlined plans to make the bloc “more resilient” to economic threats, such as China’s export controls on rare earth supply, and to “counter unfair trade and market distortions, including overcapacity”, Reuters reports. The EU will also “restrict exports of rare earth waste and battery scrap that can be recycled” from 2026, in response to China’s critical minerals export controls, Reuters says. China said it is “actively” issuing licences for rare earths exports, the Financial Times reports. Reuters, Xinhua, China Daily and CCTV all cover the story. Climate Home News says China is unlikely to support a “supranational initiative” on making “mineral supply chains more transparent and sustainable” at the upcoming UN Environment Assembly.
Meanwhile, EU climate commissioner Wopke Hoekstra tells the Financial Times that criticism of the EU’s carbon border tax led by China, India and Saudi Arabia is “clearly not very credible”. A GT Voice article by the state-supporting Global Times argues “China-Europe industrial cooperation will…deepen, particularly in technology, green energy, and smart manufacturing”. Wolfgang Roehr, former member of the German Foreign Service, writes in the state-run China Daily that China and the EU must “overcome the divide between their trade and climate policies” and that the EU should recognise that CBAM are “considered protectionist by China”. Chinese president Xi Jinping and French president Emmanuel Macron signed agreements in Beijing on nuclear energy and agreed to expand cooperation on the “green economy”, SCMP reports.
MORE ON CHINA
People’s Daily publishes an article in its print edition attributed to “Jin Xuan” – a byline seemingly associated with the NDRC – saying that China must both “build robust clean energy supply systems” and “reasonably construct advanced coal-fired power plants”. It adds: “The green transition is a process, not something that can be achieved overnight”. People’s Daily quotes Wang Haiqin, deputy director at the State Council’s Development Research Centre, saying China’s carbon market must “use market incentives more effectively”. “Employment in coal mining has been declining for years” in China, while renewable energy jobs have tripled, Bloomberg columnist David Fickling writes. Institute of Energy at Peking University deputy director Yang Lei tells People’s Daily that China’s energy transition is “increasingly” contributing to economic growth. Latin America has become a “key destination for Chinese investment in green hydrogen”, according to the China-Global South Project. Caixin reports that a “high share of total shipments” of “new three” cleantech go to global south countries. SCMP has an opinion article by Dr Ma Jun, president of the Institute of Finance and Sustainability and Climate Bonds Initiative CEO Sean Kidney on how renminbi internationalisation can help bridge the “climate finance gap”.
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