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China’s continued mixed signals on

coal production

CHINA

Beijing is more

than content,
however, to
collect the

plaudits for
withdrawals

from overseas
CHINA is sending out mixed signals on coal.. of coal, and extracts around 12-13mn tonnes of
Less than a year ago praise was heard from the fuel daily. markets
around the world for President Xi Jinping after Yet despite this increase in coal production at
the Chinese leader said Beijing would start reduc- home, China continues to pull out of coal projects
ing the use of coal from as soon as 2026. overseas.
Speaking from China at the time via vid- Projects in Bangladesh and Egypt number
eo-link to attendees of the 2021 Leaders Summit among 51 overseas plants that were planned with
on Climate hosted by US President Joe Biden, foreign governments by Beijing between 2014
Xi famously announced that China “will strictly and 2020. To date, half have been mothballed,
limit the increase in coal consumption over the eight others discontinued altogether, with just
14th five-year plan period (2021-2025) and one now up and running.
phase it down in the 15th five-year plan period This, experts indicate in a recent report in the
(2026-2030).” journal Science, is more a case of finances talk-
Yet despite the April 2021 assurances, and ing rather than any significant effort on the part
further promises made to the international com- of China to help reduce greenhouse gas (GHG)
munity a year earlier that China would be carbon emissions and address environmental concerns.
neutral by 2060, indications now point to these Christoph Nedopil, the article author, said that
promises being largely hollow. At least for now. Beijing’s decisions to move away from coal pro-
Coal import figures are on the rise in China jects beyond China’s borders “seems to be based
and a massive increase in mining rates over the foremost on economic rather than long-term
past few months has energy analysts and envi- environmental considerations.”
ronmentalists in the region equally confused as Beijing is more than content, however, to col-
to Xi’s real intent. lect the plaudits for withdrawals from overseas
The first two months of this year saw coal markets, with replays of former US presidential
mining output up by almost 6% compared to the candidate John Kerry praising China by saying he
same period last year. was “absolutely delighted to hear that President
Figures released by the National Bureau of Sta- Xi has made this important decision” common-
tistics (NBS) say this equated to just over 734.2mn place on terrestrial TV, according to sources.
tonnes of coal produced during January and Feb- But with co-author of the report in Science,
ruary compared with 686.6mn tonnes in 2022. Byford Tsang, pointing to the increase in coal
This fact, coupled with large-scale additional dependency as “a direct challenge to President
capacity added to China’s coal mining figures of Xi’s promise to rein in coal”, the experts that
late, is causing genuine alarm; 260mn tonnes of should know better still seem unaware that no
new mining capacity has been approved in the challenge to decisions announced globally by the
last 12 months alone, with increasing numbers of president for life are made without reason.
mothballed mines being reopened. And any that are made are usually given the
China is already the world’s largest producer nod by President Xi himself.™

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