The increase in China's August solar and wind power generation from 2025 to 2026 was equal to Germany's total power consumption during the month.

Lauri Myllyvirta@laurimyllyvirta.bsky.social · 23h ago

Why did China's coal&gas power output fall 4% in August? Three reasons: power generation from wind and solar grew much more than reported, as always; industrial power demand growth slowed down; and milder temperatures drove a drop in residential demand. How to parse the data 👇

Why did China's coal&gas power output fall 4% in August? Three reasons: power generation from wind and solar grew much more than reported, as always; industrial power demand growth slowed down; and milder temperatures drove a drop in residential demand. How to parse the data 👇

NEW from us: EU's CO2 fell 2% in H1 2026, behind the pace needed to meet 2030 targets, with a rise in gas-fired generation and insufficient clean energy growth driving up power sector emissions. Emission trends also show the need to electrify transport, buildings and industry.

Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air@creacleanair.bsky.social · 2d ago

🇪🇺 NEW | Briefing: H1 2026 EU CO2 emissions from fossil fuels fell 2% ⚠️ But the EU must reach 3.6% annual pace to meet 2030 climate target 💡 Industry & buildings oil emissions fell 10.8%, mostly March-June, after Hormuz crisis 🇵🇱 🚨 Poland saw largest rise in H1 2026, from coal⤵️

How have the oil and gas markets balanced with exports from the Gulf restricted? In Q3, the increases in oil exports from the U.S. fizzled out, leaving even more of the shortfall to be absorbed by lower imports. For LNG, its a mix of both but also some striking jumps in imports.

The solar panels, electric vehicles, EV batteries and wind turbines exported by China in 2025 will avoid annual emissions equal to those of the UK and Portugal combined, according to my new estimates. Avoided emissions increased 30% compared with 2024 exports.

NEW from us: five years after China pledged to stop overseas coal power projects and support clean energy, dozens of coal power plants have been canceled and the country's overseas clean energy financing has seen impressive growth, but gaps remain in the coal ban.

The past few months saw the release of a dozen sectoral five-year plans dealing with energy, industry, emissions and the environment by different government bodies. Our China team has put together a guide to what they all mean.

Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air@creacleanair.bsky.social · 2w ago

🇨🇳 NEW | INSIGHTS: China's 15th Five-Year Plan package 🌿 China has committed to peak CO₂ emissions before 2030 & reduce economy-wide net greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 7–10% from peak levels by 2035 🏛️ Yet policy weight & stringency are key 📄 Read more here: energyandcleanair.org/beyond-the-h...

NEW from us: India's rapid clean power expansion has kept power sector emissions flat for two years, for the first time in over 50 years, and sharply reduced fossil fuel imports. Oil and gas consumption have also fallen for two years in a row, helping alleviate the Hormuz shock.

Carbon Brief@carbonbrief.org · 2w ago

NEW – Analysis: India’s power-sector emissions flat for two years due to clean-energy surge ✍️ Written by @laurimyllyvirta.bsky.social and Anubha Aggarwal @creacleanair.bsky.social Read here: buff.ly/JIwsTKV

Power generation from coal and gas fell 4% in China in August, as solar and wind covered all electricity demand growth and hydropower and nuclear grew as well. Cement production fell 12%, crude steel 4% and oil refinery output 7%, indicating emission reductions across the board.

🇮🇩 NEW | Indonesia Air Quality Tracker ❓️How clean is the air in Indonesia? 💡 CREA’s new Indonesia Air Quality Tracker brings air-quality data from 155 monitoring sites across 119 cities ⤵️

🇮🇩 🔥🌳 Amid severe forest and land fires, chronic, non-fire air pollution remains the invisible, constant driver of #Indonesia's national health crisis, pushing August's total #airpollution-attributable deaths to 3,700 across the 15 most impacted provinces 🧵⤵️

There's increasing speculation that China is returning to the oil market, but no sign of it in tanker loading data. Rather looks like they're having to pay more to keep imports from falling even further. This is tanker departures which show up as imports with several weeks' lag.

Cheap drones have made reliance on oil and gas very very expensive. www.theguardian.com/world/2026/s...

Satellite images show extent of damage to major Saudi pipeline, amid global oil supply fears

Saudis yet to provide details about damage from drone attack to key east-west pipeline to Red Sea that could affect 4% of global oil supply

theguardian.com

NEW from me: China's CO2 emissions fell by 1% in the second quarter of 2026, as oil consumption plummeted amid the Strait of Hormuz crisis, with EVs and public transport among the key factors. Oil consumption fell by 9% overall and by 16% for transport. 🧵

Carbon Brief@carbonbrief.org · 4w ago

NEW – Analysis: China’s CO2 emissions fall in Q2 2026 due to plummeting oil use | @laurimyllyvirta.bsky.social Read here: buff.ly/P3nHdbA

This headline is of course entirely symbolic - coal still generates almost four times as much electricity and about 8 times as much total energy as solar in China. The much bigger milestone is that coal generated less than 50% of China's power in the first half of 2026.

⚕️🇿🇦 REPORT LAUNCH & WEBINAR | On International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies, join us as we examine the economic & health impacts of air pollution from South Africa’s largest coal-to-liquids facility 🗓️ Monday, 7 Sept. 2026 🕝️14:30 SAST | CEST ▶️ Register: bit.ly/459Ye6C w/ @justsharesa.bsky.social

Breaking: The fossil fuel shock caused by the closure of the Hormuz has cost $330 bn in fuel import costs in the past six months. The cost of the crisis equals all global investments in renewable power in 2025, on a per-month average basis.

Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air@creacleanair.bsky.social · last mo.

🌏️ NEW | INSIGHTS: What the Hormuz crisis has cost fossil fuel importers in six months since strikes — March to August 2026 ❗️ 📈 Fossil fuel importers paid extra USD 330 bn against forecasts 🌿 ☀️ Clean power generation saved USD 36 bn energyandcleanair.org/what-the-hor...

The falling trend in China's coal-fired power generation isn't limited to July: coal power has now been falling for eight weeks straigth, from mid-June to mid-August. The second week of August saw a sharp 12% drop year-on-year.

Lauri Myllyvirta@laurimyllyvirta.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Steep drop in China's CO2 emissions in July: -power generation from coal&gas -3.5% -coal mine output -10% in July, -3% year-to-date -cement output -12% in July, -9% YTD -crude steel output -4%, -3% -oil refining -16%, -7%

Steep drop in China's CO2 emissions in July: -power generation from coal&gas -3.5% -coal mine output -10% in July, -3% year-to-date -cement output -12% in July, -9% YTD -crude steel output -4%, -3% -oil refining -16%, -7%

Three Chinese energy specialists respond to my analysis of China's carbon intensity data, which showed that China changed the numbers in a way that erased a major shortfall to 2025 target and enabled a weak 2030 target.

New, in-depth work by our Indonesia team and data team, identifying the worst air pollutant emission hotspots in Indonesia and proposing solutions.

Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air@creacleanair.bsky.social · 2mo ago

🇮🇩 🛰️🔥NEW | REPORT: CREA has identified 29 #NOx point sources across #Indonesia, tripling the previous global catalogue Major sources include Jakarta & Java coal & gas power complexes & industrial clusters, as well as Sulawesi & North Maluku nickel hubs ⤵️

EVs made up over 60% of all vehicles sold by Chinese automakers in July, and 50% year-to-date, both for the first time. They reached a 68% share of domestic passenger car sales and over 50% of vehicle exports.

First severe oil spill caused by a shadow tanker carrying Russian oil. I hope coastal states finally get serious about the risk and about addressing it.

China's wind power capacity additions in the first half of 2026 were 39GW, much higher than any year before the record-setting 2025. Solar capacity additions, at 72GW, are down sharply from 2025 but tied with 2023 which saw over 200GW added during the full year.

New validation of our near-real-time tracking of EU CO2 emissions finds that we get within 0.5%-points of data released by government and academics with a much longer delay, while providing much more granular estimates by sector and day/week/month.

New from us: China's coal-fired power generation rebounded in the first half of 2026. Rapid expansion of coal power capacity led to worsening oversupply, reflected both in the increase of wasted wind and solar generation and in falling utilisation of coal power plants.

Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air@creacleanair.bsky.social · 2mo ago

🇨🇳 NEW | #China – Coal power biannual review – H1 2026 💥 China’s #coal power generation rebounded by 3.4% YoY, even as coal plants were used less intensively and wind & solar #curtailment rose 49%, enough to cover all new power demand w/ @globalenergymon.bsky.social Link in 🧵⤵️

OECD power generation from gas has seen a significant drop in the five months since LNG flows through the Strait of Hormuz were first disrupted. This has not resulted in an increase in coal-fired generation as solar and wind have covered demand growth and the fall in gas.

These two roles are open for application until Friday - but the sooner the better as I'm already working through the applications.

Lauri Myllyvirta@laurimyllyvirta.bsky.social · 2mo ago

JOB OPPORTUNITY: Come work with me to produce timely, high-impact analysis of the biggest developments in energy, economy and air pollution! We're looking for a data scientist to produce cutting edge analysis and an insights analyst to turn it into high-quality briefings.

Trade data for July will soon show significant jumps in oil imports for China, Japan and South Korea, compared to June. This might seem a return to the market but it's just a delayed effect of the brief re-opening of Hormuz in June; tanker departures have now fallen back down.

Electric vehicles, including plug-in hybrids, made up over half of China's auto exports for the first time in June. See our monthly snapshot for a lot more on China's energy trends. 👇

Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air@creacleanair.bsky.social · 2mo ago

🚗📈NEVs accounted for over 50% of monthly vehicle exports for the first time in June, as NEV exports surged 160% YoY. In H1 2026, NEV exports grew 120% YoY