Linfen, China | Image from archives.
China’s capital Beijing will begin next month imposing the use of cleaner low-sulphur coal across all industries, as part of the country’s ongoing plan to cut the alarming rates of air pollution and reduce its dependency on the fossil fuel.
According to official news agency Xinhua, the city will also implement strict controls and targets for airborne sulphur from coal. Air pollution is a major problem for the People’s Republic – according to one study it killed 1.2 million people in 2010.
This is the first time the Asian nation enforces the use of clean coal and it follows a series other pollution-curbing measures.
The most touted of all was the recent decision to shut down about 2,000 small coal mines this year, with a total capacity of 117.48 million tonnes.
The country also wants to increase the share of non-fossil fuels in its overall energy consumption to 10.7% in 2014, in an effort to further improve its energy efficiency, control energy consumption, optimize the energy mix and guarantee energy supply.
Source: EIA, 2014.
The idea of closing down mines is nothing new to China, which accounts for about 50% of the world’s coal consumption. In 2012 alone Beijing shut down 628 medium-sized coal mines, improved technological processes of 622 mines, merged 388 mines and phased out 97.8 million tons of outdated production facilities.
Last October, the Chinese government vowed to close at least 2,000 small coal mines by 2015 over safety concerns. The news came only a month after it said it wouldn’t allow more coal-fuelled installations near Beijing, Shanghai and Guangdong, in an effort to curb air pollution in the country’s most industrial regions.
4 Comments
The Observer
Its a small step in the right direction, every time I go to China I feel this beautiful country has to get to grips with its pollution problem, just like Japan did, after the war their pollution was off the scale, now Japan is as clean as Sweden, and China could easily do the same. I hope they do.
cliff the geologist
An interesting question…..If there were a very low sulfur coal resource available in the United States, which would substantially reduce this pollution, would the Sierra Club, et.al, be vehemently opposed to its development, based upon environmental concerns????
Concerned
Big slogan from the top again. There is no real measurements and no effective enforcement. Beside, just close down 300 small, private coal mines would not yield a dent to the 3.2 billion MT yearly consumption at all. They failed to acknowledge that to reduce air pollutions in Beijing must involve hundreds coal fired power plants in northern China, not just a handful in or around the city. The majority of thermal coals from China have higher sulfur content. Can they afford to import 1.6 billlion MT low sulfur coal each year? Or are there enough low sulfur coat to meet such demand each year? The worst element of their air pollutions now is the airborn PM2.5 particulates, now monitored in almost every cities over 2 million (thanks to the first roof top unit at the US embassy in Beijing almost 10 years ago). In the end, who can touch the Electric Power Industry conglormerate in China? Again no independent agent is authorized to implement such regulations (plenty of them on paper)
long
The picture should be seen altogether. The Beijing Government issues directives, and other impliment them.
This 5 year plan includes a vast increase in coal seam gas drilling and production and other convensional gas drilling expansion. Also they are expanding their Nuclear power stations and in so doing there will be a reduction in pollution.
Many of the older houses are being removed that used to burn coal, and there will be no coal fires in the 30 storey buildings that are replacing them.