Letter from China: Coal phase-out raises energy security risk

Coal’s long goodbye means Beijing will need to brace for reduced energy security

President Xi Jinping’s commitment to start curbing coal consumption after 2025 means the beginning of the end for China’s coal era is finally in sight.  Xi pledged at the White House’s climate summit in April that China would “strictly control coal-fired power generation projects and strictly limit the increase in coal consumption” through to 2025, before ramping down coal use from 2026-2030. The timeline is later than many climate-change activists had hoped, but nevertheless represents a major turnaround for the world’s largest coal consumer. 202.5bn m³ – China’s 2021 gas target China has been making steady, if slow, progress on reducing coal as a percentage of its energy mix.