China’s consumption of coal fell in 2016 for a third year in a row, official information showed Tuesday, as the world’s top rated carbon polluter has emerged as a global leader in addressing worldwide warming.
The National Bureau of Statistics stated the consumption of coal, a big supply of heat-trapping carbon dioxide emissions, fell by 4.7 percent final year, according to preliminary calculations.
The bureau mentioned the share of coal in China’s total power consumption mix fell to 62 % in 2016 from 64 percent the year just before. A revised figure in the China Power Statistical Yearbook place the 2015 figure at 63.7 percent, but Tuesday’s report referenced the preliminary figures reported final year.
Even though China is the world’s largest customer of coal, its consumption levels have dropped as economic development slows to its lowest level due to the fact 1990. With its significant cities gripped by choking air pollution, China has also aimed to decrease coal usage in favor of all-natural gas and renewable energy like hydro, wind and solar energy.
Directives in January from the National Energy Administration ordered the cancellation of about 100 coal-fired power plants planned across the country. Construction had currently began on some.
As the world’s second-biggest economy, China is the top emitter of man-created carbon dioxide emissions, with the globe’s major economy, the United States, in second location.
China’s tackling of climate adjust in collaboration with the United States under President Barack Obama was touted by Beijing and Washington as a bright spot in a relationship beset by trade and security tensions. Crucially, the two nations joined final year to endorse the landmark Paris Agreement on climate change.
That limited partnership has now grown uncertain under new President Donald Trump, who has called climate modify a Chinese hoax and pledged to reverse Obama’s efforts to curb emissions from coal-fired power plants.
Trump stated for the duration of his campaign that he would “cancel” the Paris Agreement and withdraw American tax dollars from U.N. global warming programs.
Greenpeace mentioned an analysis of data from the National Energy Administration showed an expected “significant drop” in China’s CO2 emissions of 1 % this year, in what it mentioned would be the fourth consecutive year of zero growth or a decline.
The decline “reinforces China’s increasing status as a global climate leader, and sends a powerful signal to U.S. President Trump that his dirty energy agenda will send the American economy in the wrong path,” Greenpeace said.
Lauri Myllyvirta, senior coal campaigner for Greenpeace, stated China’s stable and falling carbon emissions have “completely revolutionized the prospects for bringing international emissions and bringing climate modify under manage.”
“The two reasons why global emissions have been stable for the past three years are no development in China and rapid fall in emissions in the U.S., so that definitely shows what can be accomplished when these two countries work with each other,” Myllyvirta stated.
China’s decline in coal use, even so, did not signal an overall drop in power consumption. The country’s total use of energy rose by the equivalent of four.36 billion tons of typical coal, an improve of 1.4 percent over the earlier year, the statistics bureau stated. Consumption of crude oil elevated by five.five percent and organic gas by 8 %, the bureau said. Overall consumption of electrical energy from all sources rose by five %, it said.
Consumption of renewable sources accounted for 19.7 % of the total energy mix, up 1.7 % from the year prior to. Even though solar and wind power are growing more prominent, most renewable energy comes from dams whose environmental impact is beginning to draw much more consideration. China has suspended approvals for new hydroelectric projects in the mountainous southwestern province of Yunnan following issues about the impact on the nearby ecosystem.
Meanwhile, production of coal fell by 9 percent to 3.41 billion tons last year. China has for years been closing smaller, significantly less effective and much more hazardous coal mines in a bid to boost productivity in the sector.
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AP researcher Yu Bing and news assistant Liu Zheng contributed to this report.
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