Workshop gathers experts to talk coal reduction

In 2020, China's total coal consumption will reach 3.86 billion tons and coal's share in total primary energy consumption will fall to 55.3 percent, achieving the mandatory 2020 consumption upper limits of 4.1 billion tons of coal and a 58-percent share set forth in the 13th Five-Year Plan, according to new research findings of the China Coal Cap Project.

The project, initiated by the Natural Resources Defense Council in 2013 with more than 20 government think tanks, research institutes and industry associations to provide policy advice on coal control, has released more than 60 reports on related issues.

On Thursday, the China Energy Conservation Association and China Coal Cap Project jointly initiated the 2019 Sixth Annual China Coal Consumption Cap and Energy Transition International Workshop in Beijing, and predicted China will have difficulties achieving the China Coal Cap Project's targets of 3.5 billion tons of coal consumption and 55 percent share in total primary energy consumption.

In the face of increasing pressure from global emission reductions and China's economic slowdown, as well as the 2017 and 2018 rebound in China's coal consumption, effective bottom-up measures should be taken to ensure the realization of the 13th Five-Year Plan's coal cap targets, it said.

Chen Wenling, chief economist at the China Center for International Economic Exchanges, said China's economy is moving from a stage of high-speed growth to a stage of high-quality growth, and as the quality of economic development continues to improve China's energy transition and structural adjustment are reaching a critical turning point.

In the face of the economic downturn, China should strengthen the cultivation of next-generation energy-saving and emission-reduction technologies, information and digital technologies, biotechnology, new materials and other emerging industries, and should vigorously promote the development of wind power, solar power and other renewable energy, she said.

New economic growth points will drive healthy, high-quality economic development, avoiding increasing infrastructure investment and thus avoiding stimulating the growth of high-energy-consuming industries with significant coal consumption, she added.