As China has boosted renewable energy it’s moved dirty coal production to Africa
China is transforming its sources of energy domestically in a bid to reverse decades of environmental pollution. But the switch to renewable energy has brought about a conundrum: what to do with the jobs and industries that have no future in this new system?
Export them. Several African countries are accepting the poisoned chalice of China’s subsidised development through the construction of outdated, dirty coal plants.
Kenya is one. Its coastline is a national asset for fisheries, tourism, a growing population and economic development. But Amu Coal—a consortium of Kenyan and Chinese energy and investment firms—is set to start building a coal plant on the only part that is untouched by industrial development. The plant is planned to be some 20 kilometers from the town of Lamu on the mainland coast, at the mouth of Dodori Creek.
World Bank