Alok Gupta

A boom in China’s coal power generation is derailing global efforts to limit global heating to 1.5C, analysts have warned. Concerns were raised because Beijing rapidly accelerated plans for new coal power plants in the second half of last year in a bid to increase its energy security. According to a report by think-tank E3G, published today, China’s coal project pipeline grew by nearly 50% in the last six months of 2022 taking the total to 250GW.

When hairline cracks appeared on the walls and floors of his ancestral home in picturesque Joshimath, a small Himalayan town in the Indian state of Uttarakhand, Rohit Parmar thought the time had arrived to renovate his house. But, two days later, those cracks widened, and his residence today can collapse at any moment. “That’s how the new year began for more than 25,000 residents of the locality and me,” Parmar told Climate Home.

Their suffering was livestreamed. Millions glued to their television and mobile screens cheered as a herd of elephants wandered for seventeen months across China. The 15 creatures trekked for more than 500 kilometres from March 2020 to September 2021, giving birth to two calves along the way. On social media, their images and videos went viral. Users romanticized their ordeal and gushed over the “cute” explorers. Reporters framed the unusual dispersal as a mystery.