China is reducing its use of coal for energy, slowing its production across the country, in an attempt to curb pollution amid fears of disastrous ramifications of global climate change.
As the nation begins to turn its back on coal – it will be abandoning its most prominent source of energy. Provinces are being forced to slow production and develop plans to develop more sustainable energy practices. Sales and imports have fell for producers across the country, and these trends are likely to continue with the current pressure to reform.
The Chinese government has begun to worry in recent years about the effect of pollution on the nations economy. China has high levels of pollution, including smog and polluted water sources. The negative externalities of these effects of unsustainable industrialization are already being seen in China. Pollution affects how citizens spend their time and interact with each other. Images of commuters with masks on to protect themselves from the smog are commonplace.
On top of these day to day implications – China has also become increasingly worried about global climate change’s effect on the nation. Reducing China’s dependency on coal and moving to renewable sources of energy will not only reduce the amount of pollution in china, but also create jobs dedicated to changing and repairing a new energy infrastructure.
Coal was used by the Chinese to fuel its economic development for the past 15 years, and coal producers are struggling to find ways to maintain their businesses despite new laws and regulations. One such way that this is being attempted is using coal to create natural gas – which is a much more sustainable fuel. The country is not used to using resources in a renewable or sustainable manner, and it will be interesting to see how the new government attempts to curb pollution will effect the economy as a whole.
Source: http://www.businessspectator.com.au/article/2015/3/30/policy-politics/chinas-war-pollution-gaining-traction-does-it-need-coal-cap
Much of China’s energy infrastructure remains to be built. Coal is clearly not the future and it likely makes sense to avoid building infrastructure dependent on a dying source of power.
The political economy is complicated, as many private mines grew up in places where coal was easy to get at. Ditto local government (and bigger!) ventures. So this will pit Beijing against local governments — a common thread to many of China’s major issues, including hukou reform.
I think this weaning off of coal will be very slow and painful for China to go through. While there are talks of alternative fuel usage in China, I don’t think they are anything near the ballpark of coal. They will really need to kick-start their use of alternative energy to make things happen. Maybe their new education initiatives will give them the necessary minds and workers to make this happen in the years to come…