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Infrastructure Isn’t Always Greener on the Other Side

Infrastructure Isn’t Always Greener on the Other Side

(Bloomberg) --

Since the coronavirus outbreak started, Chinese officials and policymakers have stressed that the development of “new infrastructure” will be a key part of its economic recovery. They have quite a hole to crawl out of: China’s first-quarter GDP shrank 6.8% compared to 2019, its worst quarterly contraction since 1992. 

It’s not the first time China has used huge infrastructure investments to stimulate itself out of a financial crisis. In the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, the country spent 4 trillion yuan on largely pollution-intensive projects such as airports and highways.

If China wants to achieve its annual GDP growth target of around 6% this year, a new, sweeping round of construction would seem to be inevitable. The hope is that new infrastructure will be cleaner, but it won’t necessarily work out that way.

Many parts of China’s plan would benefit environmental goals. The construction of EV charging stations would boost the sales of electric cars. Better data analysis would help cities reduce smog-inducing traffic jams, manage water supplies, reduce waste and make buildings more energy efficient.

But new infrastructure doesn’t equal zero-emission infrastructure. Take data centers, for example—another part of Beijing’s plan. China had over 74,000 at the end of last year, 23% of the global total. Those data centers consumed 161 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity in 2018, according to a Greenpeace report, more than Shanghai’s total annual electricity consumption. By 2023, Chinese data centers alone will produce 163 million tons of carbon emissions, more than the annual carbon emissions of many countries, including Belgium and the Philippines. 

China’s new energy sector is growing fast, but as of 2018 coal still made up 59 percent of its energy use, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. That number is rising as the nation scrambles to save its economy from the impacts of Covid-19. China approved 7.96 gigawatts of coal power construction in the first 18 days of March, more than in all of 2019, according to Global Energy Monitor.

Angel Ye, a climate and energy campaigner at Greenpeace’s Beijing office, said that achieving environmental goals will require a reduction of coal use and a commitment to renewable energy as well as new, energy-efficient infrastructure. Overbuilding new projects just for the sake of economic growth could put long-term climate goals out of reach. 

“It’s important to evaluate whether or not an infrastructure project is really in need,” Ye said. 

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.

With assistance from Bloomberg