Suicide is painless ...

Bethlehem Steel RIP

China needs energy, now, as without it, growth becomes impossible. Now let's think about this, growth, aka capitalism, means nature as profit center does it not? Only a great catastrophe will change how man does business on this planet vis a vis global warming as it's about the money no matter what the cost may be.

China Orders Top Energy Firms to Secure Supplies at All Costs

China’s central government officials ordered the country’s top state-owned energy companies -- from coal to electricity and oil -- to secure supplies for this winter at all costs, according to people familiar with the matter.

The order came directly from Vice Premier Han Zheng, who supervises the nation’s energy sector and industrial production, and was delivered during an emergency meeting earlier this week with officials from Beijing’s state-owned assets regulator and economic planning agency, the people said, asking not to be named discussing a private matter. Blackouts won’t be tolerated, the people said.

“We will go all-out to fight the tough battle of energy supply,” the nation’s top coal miner CEIC said in its statement.

Volatility in the energy markets is poised to intensify on the order from the central government, said Bjarne Schieldrop, chief commodities analyst at SEB.

China’s statement “to me implies that we are in no way on a verge of a cool-off. Rather it looks like it is going get even more crazy,” he said. “They will bid whatever it takes to win a bidding war for a cargo of coal” or liquefied natural gas.

Power Play

China's demand for thermal power has never grown as much as this year

In a sign of how worried Chinese officials are, Premier Li Keqiang has vowed that every effort will be taken to maintain economic growth. China will ensure the needs of basic livelihoods are met and will keep industrial and supply chains stable, Li was cited as saying by China National radio during a meeting with foreign diplomats Thursday.

Addendum: China's building new coal plants to ameliorate the energy crunch as coal is one resource China has to the max. 

China plans to build more coal-fired power plants and has hinted that it will rethink its timetable to slash emissions, in a significant blow to the UK’s ambitions for securing a global agreement on phasing out coal at the Cop26 climate summit in Glasgow.

In a statement after a meeting of Beijing’s National Energy Commission, the Chinese premier, Li Keqiang, stressed the importance of regular energy supply, after swathes of the country were plunged into darkness by rolling blackouts that hit factories and homes.

Engineers operating at the coal dock in Tianjin port, China. Photograph: Xinhua/Rex/Shutterstoc

Suicide is painless indeed.