
China’s coal share of energy consumption falls in 2020, but overall coal use up
- Coal share of energy consumption fell to 56.8 per cent, but overall coal usage rose by 0.6 per cent as dozens of new coal power plants went online
- Share of clean energy sources rose one percentage point to 24.3 per cent, but oil and natural gas usage rose more
Coal consumption in the world’s biggest coal user and greenhouse gas emitter grew 0.6 per cent last year, the fourth consecutive increase, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Sunday.
The share of “clean” energy – including natural gas, hydropower, nuclear and wind power – rose one percentage point to 24.3 per cent of consumption, it said.

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Energy consumption increased by 2.2 per cent to 4.98 billion tonnes of standard coal equivalent last year, with crude oil demand growing by 3.3 per cent and natural gas by 7.2 per cent.
The amount of carbon dioxide China emitted per unit of economic growth fell 1 per cent last year, the agency said in a statement.
This “carbon intensity” has fallen about 19.2 per cent since 2015, according to Reuters calculations based on official data, beating the five-year target of an 18 per cent decline.

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But China appears to have missed its target for cutting energy intensity for the period: it fell about 13.7 per cent according to Reuters calculations based on official data, less than the targeted 15 per cent.
“Some local governments found the energy-control targets limited their industrial and economic development,” said Zou Ji, China president of the Energy Foundation, a non-government research group. “By launching some mega-sized projects, they are struggling to meet the energy efficiency goal.”
