Vietnam's coal-fired power emissions jump in early 2024
Vietnam has nearly doubled imports of thermal coal so far this year from the same period in 2023 as the government strives to reassure foreign businesses and investors that power supplies will remain uninterrupted in 2024.
Vietnam's imports of thermal coal jumped to new seasonal highs at the start of 2024
The surge in coal purchases by the world's 10th largest coal consumer suggests coal-fired emissions may climb higher still in the months ahead, undermining global efforts to cut back on fossil fuel use and pollution.
NEW HIGHS
January's coal-fired emissions tally of 11 million metric tons of CO2 and equivalent gases is the highest on record for that month, data from energy think tank Ember shows.
The January total is nearly 70% above the emissions load in the same month of 2023, and is roughly 30% above the January average for the past five years - indicating a clear break with the energy generation trends of previous years.
Coal-fired electricity generation was 12.75 terawatt hours (TWh) in January, 68% more than in January 2023 and the highest monthly total since last July.
Coal produced 55% of the country's total electricity in January, up from an average of 46% in 2023 as a whole.
Total electricity generation from all sources was 23.35 TWh, or 30% more than the same month in 2023.
Vietnam electricity generation by source
The high coal-fired and overall generation totals indicate that Vietnam's power firms are clearly committed to raising output, likely in response to pressure from the government to avert the outages seen in 2023 that hurt output at several major factories and production lines.
Recovering industrial activity in neighbouring China is also likely spurring Vietnam's power producers to raise production, as several key Vietnamese industries have strong ties to China and tend to see pickups in order flows whenever Chinese consumer demand rises.
SEASONAL PEAKS
As Vietnam's annual power emissions historically peak around May and June when demand for air conditioning is highest, the surge in emissions at the start of the year suggests potential for additional emissions increases over the coming months and for full-year emissions tallies to smash previous records.
