Cleaner Growth for the PRC

Shanxi Province in the People's Republic of China (PRC) is home to many of the country’s coal mines, which produce the coal that fuels economic growth and thus helps reduce poverty. The problem: these mines also produce methane, which is hastening global warming.

The PRC’s coal mines released about 6 billion cubic meters of methane into the atmosphere in 2003. Methane is 21 times more potent than carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas. Methane is also a significant safety hazard: it is highly explosive and needs to be drained during coal mining operations to keep working conditions safe. Each year at least 7,000 miners die from underground accidents, caused mainly by methane explosions.

In the southern part of Shanxi Province, a 120-megawatt power plant is currently being developed to harness the methane produced from coal mining. The power generated, using internal combustion gas engines, will be used to power operations at the mine. The project will also capture methane from other mines and distribute the power generated to residential, commercial, and industrial consumers in the area.

The project offers a number of other benefits: it provides the poor with clean energy at an affordable cost, reduces air pollution and related health impacts, and improves occupational safety for miners.

The impacts on a regional basis are expected to be potent. Air quality in Shanxi is among the worst of any region in the PRC, and the province includes 3 of the country’s 10 most polluted cities. The area’s environmental problems are closely related to the use and transport of coal, with the province accounting for about one third of the country’s total production.

In addition, the project is expected to be able to sell greenhouse gas emission reduction credits. The Chinese government has an agreement with the World Bank’s Prototype Carbon Fund for the sale of 4.5 million tons of CO2 equivalent of greenhouse gas emission reductions to be generated under the project. There is also considerable potential for sale of additional greenhouse gas emission reductions under the Clean Development Mechanism. •