Taking the cue from Beijing's local authorities, who are sprucing up the capital city for the 2008 Olympics, China's national government has decided to give the entire country an environmental facelift. In keeping with this resolve, it is reportedly curtailing the construction and expansion of coal-fired power plants in major cities to check sulphur dioxide emissions. But the safeguard simply may not suffice in view of the country's constantly rising demand for electricity.
Significantly, coal-fuelled power plants now account for almost 35 per cent of China's annual 6.6 million metric tonnes of sulphur dioxide emissions, which in turn are primarily responsible for plaguing nearly a third of the country with acid rain. The national government's recent directive stipulates that apart from Beijing, coal power plants operating in Shanghai -- China's commercial hub and largest city -- and 21 other metropolises will have to install equipment to control these emissions. En route, they would have to follow the guidelines laid down by the State Environmental Protection Administration. It may be noted that in 2002, the cities accounted for 60 per cent of the country's sulphur dioxide emissions.
The order requires local governments to establish sulphur dioxide control projects if they want to build coal-fired plants or expand existing ones in these cities. But only those thermo-electricity projects, which have been cleared under national energy policies and comply with environmental norms, would be given the go-ahead. Further, the "desulphurisation" projects in 137 "key plants" would need to be completed by 2005. If the local governments and businesses fail to comply, they would have to face stringent penalties.
Notwithstanding these measures, estimates indicate that the situation may actually worsen in the future. This is because the generating capacity of coal-powered plants is expected to increase from 240 million kilowatts in 2000 to 660 million kilowatts by 2020. The corresponding sulphur dioxide emissions would soar to 19 million metric tonnes annually by that year. Worse still, sulphur dioxide is not the only pollutant produced by burning coal; the process also releases other harmful substances such as nitrogen oxide, suspended particles, mercury as well as carbon dioxide, which contributes to global warming.
Incidentally, the role played by emerging Asian giants -- China and India -- in contributing to mercury pollution came into focus earlier this year. In February, the United Nations Environment Programme released an assessment of the global mercury pollution and identified coal-fired plants in Asia as one of the biggest culprits. Both China and India are greatly dependent on coal to meet their energy needs.
A lasting solution to the pollution caused by coal power plants would require these countries to go beyond strategies that work at only limiting pollution, and aggressively explore non-polluting, renewable sources of energy generation, which are available abundantly across the world.
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