China to world: screw off on global warming, we got coal to burn

NYT piece analyzing China's future energy plans.

Bradsher story comes with pretty pics of solar panels and wind farms, but this photo from previous Bradsher story more applicable to the content.

Gist:  secure sources win out over the environment--meaning lots more coal to be used.  You have to understand that China's energy profile is already stunning skewed toward coal--like no other major economy on the planet.

But get used to this logic:

In other words, as China counts on more years of global leadership in economic growth, global warming remains a secondary concern. Secure sources of energy to fuel that growth are what matter most, whatever the implications for world energy markets and the global environment — not to mention foreign investors, who may or may not have a significant role to play in China’s energy industry under the draft law.

The proposed law, which is expected to be adopted by early next year, says that “energy supply should be where you can plant your foot on it,” meaning that as much as possible should come from within China, said Li Junfeng, a senior energy policy maker and member of the interagency committee drafting the law.

That belief has underpinned China’s rapid expansion in renewable energy, because it tends to be made in China, Mr. Li said. China has just emerged as the world’s largest manufacturer of wind turbines and solar panels, and plans to be the world’s biggest builder of nuclear power plants in the coming decade. It invested nearly twice as much as the United States last year in renewable energy.

But energy security also explains the continued reliance on coal, for which China has the world’s third-largest reserves, after the United States and Russia. Burning coal, which produces four-fifths of China’s electricity, has already turned China into the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases by an ever-widening margin each year since 2006.

The vaunted China model will take a severe beating as the leadership stubbornly sticks to this path, because it will reveal to the world that China puts itself before the planet when it comes to energy--just like everybody else.