Despite a newfound focus on renewables, China is still the coal capital of the world

Old habits die hard

China has quite a strange relationship with coal at the moment. Though the country produced more of it than ever last month, and domestic production looks on track to rise for the eighth year in a row, according to Bloomberg, the nation is simultaneously trying to turn away from the power source in favor of renewables like wind and solar, with demand for coal reportedly weakening against a shakier national economic backdrop. 

Indeed, China’s energy situation is a contradiction. Permits for future coal power plants dropped 83% in the first half of the year and, remarkably, the country is set to account for almost 60% of the world’s installed renewable-energy capacity by 2030. Yet at the same time, China is still responsible for supplying more of the world’s coal than any other country… and it’s not even close.

In November, China mined some 428 million tons of raw coal aboveground — a record high but still not exactly surprising given that it supplied more than 55% of the world’s coal in 2022, figures from the International Energy Agency show.

But many now believe that China’s reliance on the black rock might have peaked, or certainly can’t be far off capping out. According to a recent survey, 36% of climate experts said that China’s coal consumption had reached its highest level — good news for the planet, as China remains the world’s largest emitter of CO2.