The world’s largest polluter is already pushing back on plans to phase out fossil fuels at the upcoming COP-28. .Phasing out fossil fuels is not only “unrealistic” but impractical, China’s climate envoy told an energy conference in Beijing this weekend..“Completely phasing out fossil fuel is unrealistic,” said Xie Zhenhua, as per Bloomberg. “We should build the new before discarding the old.”.According to a video recording of a speech at a conference in Beijing, fossil fuels are essential to maintain grid stability and energy security given the unreliable and intermittent nature of renewables, Xie said..Xie will be attending COP-28 alongside John Kerry from the US and Canada’s own Steven Guilbeault who will use the gathering to push an emissions cap on oil and gas along with an end to fossil fuel subsidies..Guilbeault and other nations such as the Marshall Islands and Vanuatu want a climate pact at COP-28 to eliminate fossil fuels to inform future energy investment policies. .Meanwhile, the US has supported a phase out of so-called ‘unabated’ fossil fuels — produced without carbon capture — but opposes an outright ban, which puts it more in line with China..A similar attempt to gain an agreement at the COP-27 summit in Egypt last year stalled on the issue of wording. The G7 managed to come up with the makings of an agreement in April to speed up the phase out of oil, gas and coal but it was shot down by the G20, which includes Saudi Arabia and Russia in July..Last week, at the UN general assembly in New York, a group of 17 countries led by France, Kenya and Chile issued a statement opposing carbon capture technology on the grounds that it “green-lights” even more fossil fuel expansion..At the World Petroleum Congress in Calgary last week, the Saudis made it clear they have no intention of slowing down oil production and in fact are prepared to increase it to ensure the energy security of developing nations in Africa..Observers have suggested that sets up a rhetorical war of words between reducing fossil fuels, or just the emissions. Developing countries are already accusing the rich Western nations of hypocrisy for denying them the energy security they need to develop their economies..According to the International Energy Agency, the number of people without access to electricity rose by about 20 million people last year — mostly in sub-Saharan Africa — to about 750 million people. Another billion have access to only unreliable supplies..Meanwhile, China continues to build at least one coal-fired power plant a week. At least 300 plants — representing enough electricity to power all of Germany — are either being built or approved. Another 149 have been announced but not formally approved..If they all go ahead, China’s coal use would increase as much as 33% over 2022 levels, according to the Global Energy Monitor. China already consumes about half the world’s coal, more than all other countries combined..In an article on Chinese state controlled media earlier this month, that was inexplicably deleted, Reuters reported chief energy official Zhang Jianhua accused “foreign hostile forces” of using decarbonization to “distort and slander” China’s energy policies.
