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                         China's Coal Consumption Drops

   by Shannon Van Sant

   After heavy smog cloaked the cities of eastern China in recent years,
   Beijing vowed to cut air pollution, and the government's efforts seem
   to be having an impact, with some help from the slowing economy.
   China's coal consumption dropped 3.7 percent in 2015, following a drop
   of nearly 3 percent the year before.
   "China is very serious about tackling air pollution, which is leading
   to all kinds of measures targeting the most important polluting
   sectors," said Lauri Myllyvirta, a senior global coal campaigner at
   Greenpeace.
   Coal burning is the biggest source of carbon dioxide emissions, and
   falling consumption has helped reduce the country's emissions. China is
   the world's top emitter of greenhouse gases, and emissions soared over
   the past two decades of rapid economic growth.
   But last year, China's carbon dioxide emissions fell 2.5 percent.
   Clean energy leads to drop in coal consumption
   China's shift to clean energy sources such as hydro, nuclear and solar
   have resulted in a drop in coal consumption and emissions, as has the
   country's slowing economy, which increasingly relies less on heavy
   industry such as construction, steel and cement production.
   The government's efforts to transform the economy away from
   manufacturing and towards the service sector also means factories need
   less coal to fuel their declining production.

   ''
   China's economic transition will take several years, and
   environmentalists like Ma Jun say more work needs to be done.
   "If we truly want to reduce coal consumption and our carbon emissions,
   we need to restructure our industries which are still focused on energy
   intensive industry," said Ma.
   Changing energy sources poses challenges
   As China balances the need to restructure its economy with the
   potential of high unemployment and social instability, maintaining the
   decline of coal consumption and carbon dioxide emissions could be a
   challenge.
   Last week, China announced 1.8 million workers in the steel and cement
   industries will lose their jobs, as the government shuts down so-called
   "zombie" factories and companies that produce little output.
   Local governments, fearful of labor protests and needing to prop up
   employment and GDP, have proposed the construction of more than 200
   coal plants across the country.

   '''
   Transition to less use of coal will not be easy
   Peter Marsters, a Research Analyst at Rhodium Group which focuses on
   Chinese environmental and energy issues, said this tension between the
   current transition in China's economy and the demands for economic
   stimulus will determine whether coal consumption has reached its peak.
   "You know what we're really looking at in the energy story is just the
   transition from energy intensive growth to service sector, less energy
   intensive growth, and how China completes that transition will be the
   story of energy and climate for the next 10 years," he said.
   China has announced big goals for emission reduction over the next
   several years. The government says 20 percent of China's total energy
   use will be from carbon-free sources by 2030. President Xi Jinping has
   announced that China's greenhouse gas emissions will peak by that year
   as well.
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References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/china-coal-consumption-drops/3227003.html