Two Asian countries, China and India, account for the majority of an estimated 2,457 new coal-fired power stations either planned or in construction worldwide, as per the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit, UK.

While China has 384 coal power plants under construction, India has 149. Other growing Asian economies like Indonesia and Vietnam have 32 and 24 coal power plants under construction, respectively. The rest of the world, on the other hand, has 129 coal power plants under construction.

China also has 795 proposed coal power plants, whereas India has 297, Indonesia has 87 and Vietnam has 56. The rest of the world has 504 proposed coal power plants in the offing.

Together, China, India, Indonesia and Vietnam have pipelines of 1,824 coal power plants either planned or under construction, according to the Energy and Climate Intelligence, UK.  

China is looking to peak its overall coal consumption by 2020. The country’s coal-fired power generation has fallen since 2013 and old coal-fired plants are being shut. China is also ramping up its renewable and nuclear power.

India is adding 15-20GW of coal capacity annually, although some 390GW of coal projects from 2010-2015 have also been cancelled. The country also has ambitious objectives for wind and solar energy, targeting an additional 140GW wind and solar capacity by 2022.

Both nations, however, are also experiencing the fallout of being dependent on coal for energy production. In both China and India air pollution has become a major environmental concern.

Curbs such as India’s carbon tax on coal would be expected to impact investment decisions for new coal power plants.