In 2018, coal accounted for 59% of China’s total energy consumption. For the first time, coal has accounted for less than 60% of primary energy mix in China. With this development, China is confident to reach its 13th Five-Year Plan goal of reducing coal to under 58% of total energy consumption in 2020.
As the world’s largest coal producer for many years, China’s economy benefited from its abundant coal resource. For this reason, coal was very dominant in the primary energy structure of China. In the 1950s, coal occupied more than 90% of the total energy consumption. In recent years, due to the transition to a low-carbon economy and the strengthening of the environmental standards, coal consumption has slowed down quickly.
