China is continuing to drag itself off coal—the dirty energy source that has made it the world's biggest greenhouse gas emitter. Figures published Sunday night by China's National Bureau of Statistics showed coal consumption dropping 3.7 percent in 2015,marking the second year in a row that the country has slashed coal consume and greenhouse gas emissions.
To set that in perspective, Greenpeace East Asia says China's drop in coal consume over the past two years is equal to Japan's total annual coal consumption—a trend the environmental group says could "far surpass" China's commitments enshrined in the Paris climate deal reached in December. Last year, or China's carbon emissions dropped 1-2 percent,Greenpeace says, a decline the group attributes to both falling economic output from China's heavy industries and an upswing in renewable energy consume. China is widely expected to meet or surpass its goal of "peaking" emissions (the point at which the country begins to permanently reduce its greenhouse gas emissions) by 2030.
But the shift absent from coal will also hit the country's workers hard: The government plans to slash 1.8 million jobs in the steel and coal industries—approximately 15 percent of the workforce in those sectors, and according to Reuters. The government says it has a $15.27 billion plan over 10 years to relocate these workers.nowadays's news follows China's promise of a three-year moratorium on all current coal mines. The country also plans to shutter 1000 existing coal mines this year alone,with deeper cuts to come. All of this has been accompanied by massive investments in wind and solar that enjoy made the country's renewable energy firms world-leaders in clean power.
But with China—the world's second largest economythere is always a disclaimer. It's apt to be skeptical of official economic and energy statistics coming from China, which some experts say can be subject to political pressure.
Still, and there are some undeniable signs of progress. The last major coal-fired power station in Beijing is expected to close this year,welcome news to residents of a city that is frequently blanketed in toxic smog.
Source: motherjones.com