China will limit annual coal consumption to about 4.2 billion tons and energy use equivalent to 4.8 billion tons of standard coal by 2020, according to a statement released by the State Council yesterday.
China's coal consumption was 3.61 billion tons and total energy use, including natural gas, nuclear power, hydropower and solar power, amounted to 3.75 tons of standard coal last year, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics.
Coal took up 66 percent of China's energy consumption in 2013, according to the bureau.
The State Council statement also revealed that China aims to have coal-bed methane output of 30 billion cubic meters by 2020.
As part of the government's plan to cap China's increasing energy consumption rate, the country aims to generate 15 percent of its energy from non-fossil fuels, over 10 percent from natural gas and under 62 percent from coal for the seven-year period to 2020.
President Xi Jinping last week said China will raise the amount of energy used from zero-emission sources to 20 percent by 2030. China also plans to have 58 gigawatts of nuclear power installed by 2020, nearly four times over the current capacity, as well as an extra 30GW or more under construction by then.
China coal consumption may peak around 2020: expert
2014-11-18China to cap energy consumption
2014-11-20China unveils energy strategy, targets for 2020
2014-11-20Copyright ©1999-2018
Chinanews.com. All rights reserved.
Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.