As China continues to encourage the use of cleaner energy to combat air pollution, it has lowered the target for coal's share in its primary energy mix. China aims to reduce the share of coal to around 57.5 percent of primary energy this year, the national energy administration (NEA) said. This is a slight decline from 57.7 percent in 2019.
The latest target is also marginally more ambitious than the previous goal of reducing coal's share to 58 percent in 2020.
Even amid the government efforts to reduce coal's share of total energy, coal consumption has increased. Coal consumption increased by 1 percent from a year earlier in 2019 because of stronger power demand. This was the third consecutive annual increase.
To limit the increase in coal consumption, China will continue to replace coal-fired with electricity-based heating. While continuing to develop solar and wind power projects, it will accelerate the construction of LNG pipelines and storage facilities.
