The level of emissions from coal plants in China in 2011 could have contributed to an estimated quarter of a million premature deaths that year…The some 257,000 premature deaths – which theoretically could have been avoided if there was no air pollution - were calculated using modeling techniques based on the links between air pollution and risk of illness or death…We mapped the impact of the coal plant emissions on estimated premature deaths…The Greenpeace study…also considered coal-fired plants that are in the pipeline. If the 570 proposed coal plants are built they could cause 32,000 premature deaths a year, the analysis projected. China is building coal plants at a rapid rate and depends on coal as its primary source of energy – at almost 80% - half of which is burned by the power sector. China’s Big Five state-owned power firms (Huaneng, Guodian, Huadian, Datang and China Power Investment) account for about half of China’s capacity.