China was expanding coal production for security reasons, Habeck said in Hangzhou on Sunday, citing Chinese officials he met the previous day in Beijing.
“China also imports large amounts of gas and oil and China has already seen what has happened in Europe and Germany in the last two years,” he added, referring to the energy crisis triggered by Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
He also said cooperation with China must be strengthened.
“Without China it would not be possible to meet the climate targets globally”, Habeck said, adding that it should be possible to achieve the same level of security with fewer coal-fired power plants.
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China’s largest photothermal power facility drives development of new form of energy
China’s largest photothermal power facility drives development of new form of energy
Later, Habeck told students at Zhejiang University that the difficulty lay in integrating variable forms of energy such as wind and solar into a system built to work on more predictable fuels.
He said that doubling capacities was “the old way” of doing it, but not the most efficient.
China is expanding its coal production but also installed almost 350 gigawatts of new renewable energy capacity in 2023, more than half the global total.
Habeck said extension of the power grid and use of batteries to store energy could reduce the number of traditionally fuelled power plants needed to meet China’s needs.
Economic growth and climate action were not opposites, he added.
“Transforming the economy to a climate-neutral one is not only good for the climate but creates new opportunities for wealth and growth.”