All the World's Coal Power Plants Mapped

Burning coal is the biggest single contributor to global warming. Instead of reducing our use of coal power plants we have decided to double their use and as a species rush headlong into oblivion. According to Carbon Brief "since 2000, the world has doubled its coal-fired power capacity". Plans for new coal power plants around the globe will double that capacity once again.

Carbon Brief has mapped all the coal power plants in the world. The World’s Coal Power Plants interactive map is an effective and shocking visualization of the increasing use of coal around the world. It shows all the coal power plants around the globe operating in each year between 2000 and 2017. It also shows all the locations of planned new coal plants.

The accompanying chart reveals the source of all this new coal power capacity. Asian countries are largely to blame. In particular China is almost single-handedly responsible for the huge increases in coal power in recent years. If we want to stop global warming China needs to stop building more coal power plants. According to Carbon Brief in response to air pollution and climate concerns there is some evidence that China's coal power production may have peaked.