"Last Friday, the lights went out across northeast China. Cars piled up at intersections under blacked-out stoplights. Residents took to social media to complain about needing to walk up dozens of flights of stairs to get home. Sales of candles increased tenfold, according to state media.
In the city of Jilin, a state-owned water services provider sent out a message warning residents that power cuts “of indeterminate lengths, at indeterminate times, without plan, without warning,” would be the norm until March. (The company later deleted the statement and apologized for its “unsuitable wording and inaccurate content.”)
Amid confusion over what caused the blackouts and how long they might last, influential commentators started to blame the country’s targets to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, raising fears among environmental advocates that fossil fuel lobbyists were taking advantage of the crisis to undermine climate goals."
Christian Shepherd reports for the Washington Post September 30, 2021.
SEE ALSO:
"China Power Crunch Slams Factories As Coal Lobby Warns Woes Could Stay Until Winter" (Reuters)
