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China’s massive coal footprint is shrinking due to successful, intentional effort under the most recent five year plan, and coal’s presence in China’s power mix
by mbgerring 4mo ago
China’s massive coal footprint is shrinking due to successful, intentional effort under the most recent five year plan, and coal’s presence in China’s power mix will likely continue to shrink, while China ramps up exports of clean energy technology to the rest of the world.
- dnautics 4mo agoIn absolute terms, china's coal footprint is increasing, and will continue to increase in the short term, as of early 2026, they were still opening new coal plants.
- nutjob2 4mo agoChina is a semi-planned economy. The coal plants are more a form of insurance than a practical and economical source of power.
- leonidasrup 4mo agoChina is shifting it's coal use from direct burning in coal power plants to coal based oil, gas and chemicals, reducing the need for energy imports that could be cut off in a conflict. Carbon, in form of CO2, will still be released to the atmosphere from this products. https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/chinese-alchemy-cheap-fuel-powers-coal-to-gas-chemicals-boom-2025-09-04/ https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/chines...
- 3eb7988a1663 4mo agoTheir coal capacity is increasing, but the utilization is continually falling.