WASHINGTON: The global capacity of power plants fired by coal, the fossil fuel that emits the most carbon dioxide when burned, rose nearly 1% last year as the world recovered from the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a research report by a US environmental group.

“It’s up by a small number,” said Flora Champenois, a research analyst at GEM about the capacity rise. “But it comes at a time when the world needs a dramatic fall in the capacity, not any rise.” Last year’s surge in new coal plants of about 25.2 GW in China, the world’s top climate polluter, nearly offset coal plant closures in the rest of the world of 25.6 GW, the report said.

China has pledged to bring greenhouse gas emissions to a peak “before 2030” and achieve carbon neutrality by 2060. But its recent focus has shifted towards energy security, following disruptive power cuts and geopolitical uncertainties since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Countries like Germany have also been reconsidering using more coal to replace Russian natural gas.