
Breadcrumbs
China’s industrial recovery risks rising coal
China’s growing appetite for coal-intensive steel, aluminium, cement and electricity puts it out of sync with falling global coal use.
About
New analysis shows that China’s industrial recovery means it is producing nearly 60% of the world’s steel, aluminium and cement this year.
This coal-intensive recovery will make it hard to cut coal use, at a time when China pledged a pathway to decarbonisation, and as coal use is falling across the world.
Executive summary
China’s production of coal-intensive products is accelerating
Xunpeng (Roc) Shi Principal Research Fellow, Australia-China Relations Institute
China’s growing demand for coal-intensive products is at odds with its carbon neutrality commitment. Fulfilling this commitment requires urgent actions to be taken to change the status quo. Attention should also be given to the issues of inclusiveness and equity that may arise from a coal phase-out and its adverse impacts on local communities.
The risk of rising coal
China's coal-intensive recovery
Conclusion
An additional challenge for decarbonisation
China is facing another year of unchanged, or even slightly rising coal consumption, as coal falls rapidly in the rest of the world.
Although coal-heavy industries have decarbonisation options, those options generally rely on electricity (either directly, or via green hydrogen), meaning these sectors will compete for new clean electricity. There is a finite rate at which clean electricity can be built, even in China. China will find it very hard to quickly cut its coal burn whilst economic growth is focused so intensively around using more steel, aluminium, cement and electricity.