Page 8 - AsiaElec Week 33

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China to step up mine safety record
CHINA
CHINA is to begin a series of safety inspections at its coal mines during September a er a num- ber of fatal accidents in recent months.
The National Coal Mine Safety Adminis- tration announced that inspectors would crack down on illegal production, especially at small mines.
It also wants mining companies to improve their safety systems and their ability to respond to major disasters such as gas explosions and oods.
The body also intends to punish miners found producing beyond their approved capac- ity, although it did not describe what sanctions it could impose.
Many smaller mines produce coal illegally in a bid to meet local demand, while the Beijing government is pursuing a somewhat unsuc- cessful policy of reducing coal consumption by industry in a bid to cut pollution.
China produced 2.09bn tonnes of coal during the rst seven months of 2019, up 4.3% on the same period in 2018, according to o cial data.
In May, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the country’s highest planning body, said it would close more small mines in a bid to boost safety and reduce pollution.
e NDRC said it wanted to cut the number of small mines to under 800 across the country by 2021.
In March, the National Energy Administra- tion (NEA) said that at the end of 2018 China owned and operated 3,373 coal mines, with 3.53bn tonnes per year of capacity. e number of coal mines in 2018 was 534 fewer than in 2017.
Mines that can produce more than 1.2 mil- lion tpy account for more than 80% of facilities, while those below 300,000 tpy account for less than 10%, the NEA said.™
RENEWABLES
India, China argue over climate change costs
GLOBAL
INDIA and China are leading a call by the world’s largest emerging economies for estab- lished industrialised countries to carry the costs of fighting climate change and not to expect developing countries to pay for problems they did not cause.
Environment ministers from India, China, South Africa and Brazil – dubbed the BASIC countries – agreed last week to urge to make “the (2015) Paris (Climate) Agreement accepted by all countries in its true letter and spirit.”
What this means is that industrialised nations must maintain the commitments and targets set out in the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), signed at Paris in 2015.
These targets are somewhat less stringent than UN chief Antonio Guterres’ recent call for countries to build no more new coal plants from 2020 and for carbon neutrality by 2050 in a bid to limit global warming to 1.5 C.
e politics are that only developed countries in Europe are likely to meet such targets.
BASIC countries, which have only recently become industrialised, view that they are less responsible for global warming than developed countries and that they should not sign up to such stricter targets.
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w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m Week 33 20•August•2019