China's coal production hit record levels in 2021
Source: The Guardian
Chinas coal production hit record levels in 2021
In blow to climate campaigners, state encourages miners to ramp up output to avert winter gas crisis
Jillian Ambrose
Mon 17 Jan 2022 15.21 GMT
Chinas coal production reached record levels last year as the state encouraged miners to ramp up their fossil fuel output to safeguard the countrys energy supplies through the winter gas crisis.
The worlds biggest coal producer and consumer mined 384.67m tonnes of the fossil fuel last month, easily topping its previous record of 370.84m tonnes set in November, after the government called for miners to work at maximum capacity to help fuel the countrys economic growth.
Official government figures show that Chinas coal binge also spurred the country to record high coal output over the year as a whole. Chinese coal production climbed to an all-time high of 4.07bn tonnes, up 4.7% on the previous year, in a blow to climate campaigners months after the UNs Cop26 climate talks in Glasgow.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) predicted that global consumption of coal power, which is the worlds single biggest source of climate emissions, would reach record levels in 2021 driven by a surge in demand for energy to kickstart global economies following the coronavirus pandemic.
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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/jan/17/chinas-coal-production-hit-record-levels-in-2021