Coal's decline looking like trend

The decline of China's coal usage may have become a long-term trend, according to experts, after official data on Tuesday showed that coal burning in 2016 dropped for the third consecutive year.

Coal consumption, a major source for carbon dioxide emissions, dropped by 4.7 percent in 2016, the biggest year-on-year decline since 2014, according to the annual Statistical Communique on Economic and Social Development, released by the National Bureau of Statistics.

Xie Zhenhua, China's special representative for climate change, told China Daily in January that he believed China would fulfill its carbon emission pledges "on time", but it might be too early to say the nation has accomplished its goal.