Coal's share in China's power mix dropped below targets in 2019

Coal consumption dipped 1.5ppt to 57.7%.

According to the Chinese National Bureau of Statistics, the share of coal in China’s primary consumption decreased by 1.5 percentage point in 2019 to 57.7%. China’s objective was to reduce coal’s share below 58% in 2020. China’s coal consumption and total energy consumption increased by 1% and 3.3%, respectively, in 2019. Consumption of natural gas rose by 8.6%, followed by crude oil (+6.8%) and electricity (+4.5%). Overall, gas, hydropower, nuclear and wind power accounted for 23.4% of the total energy consumption (+1.3 percentage points on 2018). In addition, China’s CO2 intensity (CO2 emissions per CNY10,000 (US$1,432) of GDP) dropped by 4.1% in 2019.

China’s NDC set the objective of achieving a peak CO2 reduction around 2030, or earlier if possible; lowering CO2 per unit of GDP by 40% to 45% from 2005 levels; and increasing the share of non-fossil fuels in primary energy consumption to around 20%.

This article was originally published by Enerdata.