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China approves coal power surge despite emissions pledge: Greenpeace

China’s surge in coal power approvals has raised concerns that it will backtrack on its emissions reduction goals, with local governments in energy-hungry provinces approving at least 20.45 GW of coal-fired power in Q1 2023, more than double the same period last year.

Greenpeace warns that investing in fossil fuel plants to prepare for the spike in air conditioning will create a vicious cycle and accelerate climate change.

The country is also the world’s largest producer of renewable energy, but the need for short-term economic growth is diverting investment away from renewable energy projects.

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BEIJING, CHINA — China has approved a major surge in coal power so far this year, prioritising energy supply over its pledge to reduce emissions from fossil fuels, Greenpeace said Monday.

The world’s second-largest economy is also its biggest emitter of the greenhouse gases driving climate change, such as carbon dioxide (CO2), and China’s emissions pledges are seen as essential to keeping global temperature rise well below two degrees Celsius.

The jump in approvals for coal-fired power plants, however, has fuelled concerns that China will backtrack on its goals to peak emissions between 2026 and 2030 and become carbon-neutral by 2060.

Local governments in energy-hungry Chinese provinces approved at least 20.45 gigawatts (GW) of coal-fired power in the first three months of 2023, Greenpeace said.

That is more than double the 8.63 GW Greenpeace reported for the same period last year, and greater than the 18.55 GW that got the green light for the whole of 2021.

China relied on coal for nearly 60 per cent of its electricity last year.

The push for more coal plants “risks climate disasters… and locking us into a high-carbon pathway,” Greenpeace campaigner Xie Wenwen said.

“The 2022 coal boom has clearly continued into this year.”

A study released in February by Global Energy Monitor (GEM) said China last year approved the largest expansion of coal-fired power plants since 2015.

Vicious cycle

Most of the new coal projects approved in the January-March period this year were in provinces that have suffered punishing power shortages due to record heatwaves in the last two years, Greenpeace said.

Several others were in southwest China, where a record drought last year slashed hydropower output and forced factories to shut down.

It was unclear how many of the coal power plants approved this year will begin construction.

Greenpeace analysts warned that investing in more fossil-fuel plants to prepare for the spike in air conditioning will create a vicious cycle: increased greenhouse gas emissions from the coal plants will accelerate climate change, resulting in more frequent extreme weather such as heat waves.

“China’s power sector can still peak emissions by 2025,” Greenpeace’s Xie said, but added that emissions released today will linger in the atmosphere for decades.

China is also the world’s largest and fastest-growing producer of renewable energy.

Wind, solar, hydro and nuclear sources are expected to supply a third of its electricity demand by 2025, up from 28.8 per cent in 2020, according to estimates by the National Energy Administration.

But Greenpeace said the rise in approvals for coal power projects shows how the need for short-term economic growth is diverting investment away from renewable energy projects such as grid upgrades that can supply surplus wind and solar power to regions that need it.

With an average lifespan of about 40 to 50 years, China’s coal plants will be operating at minimum capacity and at a loss if the country delivers on its emissions pledge, according to the report.

The China Electricity Council said more than half of the country’s large coal-fired power companies made losses in the first half of 2022.

— AFP

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AFP

Singapore hangs 14th drug convict since last year

Singapore executed Mohd Aziz bin Hussain, convicted of drug trafficking, amid a resumption of executions in 2022. Another woman prisoner, Saridewi Djamani, faces execution.

Amnesty International urged Singapore to halt the executions, questioning the deterrent effect of the death penalty.

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26 July 2023

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SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE — Singapore on Wednesday hanged a local man convicted of drug trafficking, officials said, two days before the scheduled execution of the first woman prisoner in the city-state in nearly 20 years.

Mohd Aziz bin Hussain, convicted and sentenced to death in 2017 for trafficking “not less than 49.98 grams” (1.76 ounces) of heroin, was executed at Changi Prison, the Central Narcotics Bureau said in a statement.

The 57-year-old was the 14th convict sent to the gallows since the government resumed executions in March 2022 after a two-year pause during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Hussain’s previous appeals against his conviction and sentence had been dismissed, and a petition for presidential clemency was also denied.

A woman drug convict, 45-year-old Saridewi Djamani, is scheduled to be hanged on Friday, according to the local rights group Transformative Justice Collective (TJC).

She was sentenced to death in 2018 for trafficking around 30 grams of heroin.

If carried out, Djamani would be the first woman executed in Singapore since 2004, when 36-year-old hairdresser Yen May Woen was hanged for drug trafficking, according to TJC activist Kokila Annamalai.

Singapore has some of the world’s toughest anti-drug laws — trafficking more than 500 grams of cannabis or over 15 grams of heroin can result in the death penalty.

Rights watchdog Amnesty International on Tuesday urged Singapore to halt the executions, saying there was no evidence the death penalty acted as a deterrent to crime.

“It is unconscionable that authorities in Singapore continue to cruelly pursue more executions in the name of drug control,” Amnesty death penalty expert Chiara Sangiorgio said in a statement.

Singapore, however, insists that the death penalty has helped make it one of Asia’s safest countries.

Among those hanged since last year was Nagaenthran K. Dharmalingam, whose execution sparked a global outcry, including from the United Nations and British tycoon Richard Branson, because he was deemed to have a mental disability.

— AFP

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AFP

Singapore to execute first woman in nearly 20 years: rights groups

Singapore set to execute two drug convicts, including first woman in 20 years, despite rights groups’ calls to stop.

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25 July 2023

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SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE — Singapore is set to hang two drug convicts this week, including the first woman to be sent to the gallows in nearly 20 years, rights groups said Tuesday, while urging the executions be halted.

Local rights organisation Transformative Justice Collective (TJC) said a 56-year-old man convicted of trafficking 50 grams (1.76 ounces) of heroin is scheduled to be hanged on Wednesday at the Southeast Asian city-state’s Changi Prison.

A 45-year-old woman convict who TJC identified as Saridewi Djamani is also set to be sent to the gallows on Friday. She was sentenced to death in 2018 for trafficking around 30 grams of heroin.

If carried out, she would be the first woman to be executed in Singapore since 2004 when 36-year-old hairdresser Yen May Woen was hanged for drug trafficking, said TJC activist Kokila Annamalai.

TJC said the two prisoners are Singaporeans and their families have received notices setting the dates of their executions.

Prison officials have not answered emailed questions from AFP seeking confirmation.

Singapore imposes the death penalty for certain crimes, including murder and some forms of kidnapping.

It also has some of the world’s toughest anti-drug laws: trafficking more than 500 grams of cannabis and 15 grams of heroin can result in the death penalty.

At least 13 people have been hanged so far since the government resumed executions following a two-year hiatus in place during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Rights watchdog Amnesty International on Tuesday urged Singapore to halt the impending executions.

“It is unconscionable that authorities in Singapore continue to cruelly pursue more executions in the name of drug control,” Amnesty’s death penalty expert Chiara Sangiorgio said in a statement.

“There is no evidence that the death penalty has a unique deterrent effect or that it has any impact on the use and availability of drugs.

“As countries around the world do away with the death penalty and embrace drug policy reform, Singapore’s authorities are doing neither,” Sangiorgio added.

Singapore insists that the death penalty is an effective crime deterrent.

— AFP

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