China raises renewables targets, but coal remains king

AHEAD OF the Copenhagen climate summit at the end of the year, coal-reliant China has been under pressure, notably from the US, to take greater steps towards cutting carbon emissions. In response, the government has increased its 2020 wind and solar power targets several-fold and is about to unveil an economic stimulus package for the renewables sector. Zhang Xiaoqiang, vice-chairman of the national development and reform commission, told the UK's Guardian newspaper in June that the country had set new targets to bring 100 gigawatts (GW) of wind power capacity and at least 9 GW of solar power on line by 2020, compared with previous targets of 30 GW and 3 GW respectively. This supported figur