China’s Problematic Coal Plan

China’s Problematic Coal Plan

by Kevin Jianjun Tu

Last month, China’s National Development and Reform Commission released the long-awaited 12th Five Year Plan for its coal industry, which aims to curb China’s national coal production and consumption at around 3.9 billion tons by 2015. But how an increasingly market-oriented Chinese economy can meet those targets remains unclear, and the plan itself offers no road map. In addition, an increasingly noticeable discrepancy in coal consumption between national and provincial sources may eventually undermine the credibility of any government issued coal industry targets. China has long relied on domestically abundant coal – which accounts for 95 percent of the country’s proven fossil fuel reserves – to fuel its booming economy. Despite a prolonged governmental effort to retard the destructive environmental effects of the coal consumption spike, currently coal still accounts for nearly 70 percent of China’s national energy consumption and about 80 percent of its electricity production. In 2009, carbon emissions ... Read More...