From your article:

> The scale of the uncertainty over the true nature of China’s coal demand means it is hard to establish whether there was an overall rise or fall in the country’s CO2 emissions in 2022. This difference could have global implications for action on climate change.

> Whether the official coal data for 2022 is correct or not, the country moved further off track against its near-term targets for carbon and energy intensity.

Also, it's measuring something different—emissions in the year—while the article I linked is talking about new coal construction. New coal construction is pretty easy to measure relative to emissions, and is a leading indicator suggesting future emissions are coming.

It's not that simple.

* The power plants are running at lower capacities: https://www.sustainabilitybynumbers.com/p/china-coal-plants

* Not all coal is equal. High-volatile bituminous coals have ~5% less emissions: https://gaftp.epa.gov/ap42/ch01/s01/reference/ref_77%20c01s0...

* Some of the new plants are "clean" (not actually clean, but produce less emissions): https://globalenergyprize.org/en/2024/03/29/china-remains-wo...

* You can build newer, more efficient coal power plants (~45%) which slightly reduce the amount of coal you need to burn at older, less efficient coal power plants (~33%): https://www.google.com/search?q=how+efficient+are+newer+coal...

* ~5% of the new additions replaced retirements.