China needs to hit its “peak coal” use by 2020 if it is to fulfil its commitment to end growth in climate-warming carbon emissions by the end of the next decade, an influential government think tank said yesterday.
The country last week pledged for the first time to end growth in carbon emissions by “around 2030,” and it has also vowed to raise the share of non-fossil fuels in its total energy mix to 20 percent by the same year.
To achieve those targets, it must cap coal consumption at less than 4.1 billion tons in 2020, an increase of about 13 percent from the 3.6 billion tons burned last year.
Su Ming, a researcher at the Energy Research Institute (ERI), under the National Development and Reform Commission, said that while “peak coal” needed to come in 2020, industrialized eastern regions must start to cut consumption earlier if the targets are to be met.
“We are trying to tell provincial officials how much coal they can use under a restricted nationwide quota,” Su said yesterday, adding that less-developed western regions could delay the peak until 2030.
China has relied on coal over the past three decades of growth, but slowing and eventually reducing use of the dirty fuel is now a vital part of efforts to tackle smog and greenhouse gas emissions.
Beijing and the big consuming regions of Hebei, Tianjin and Shandong have already committed to cut coal use by a combined 83 million tons in the 2012-17 period, but Su said they will have to cut at least 220 million tons by 2030 if they are to meet their air pollution goals.
Beijing alone will have to cut coal use by 99 percent to under 200,000 tons by 2030, while Hebei, Tianjin and Shandong will have to make cuts of up to 27 percent by that date, the ERI said.
Shanghai, Zhejiang and Jiangsu on the east coast will have to cut consumption by 85 million tons by 2030.
The Chinese government is expected to announce a coal cap in its next five-year plan for 2016-20, but it has not yet decided whether it will be binding, or how it will be allocated regionally.
Source: http://www.china.org.cn/environment/2014-11/19/content_34090378.htm