| Abstract |
This report presents an overview of coal in China, examines coal-related policies and issues, and recommends ways the country – both on its own and in co-operation with others – might improve the sustainability of coal use. To help address the challenges, the IEA makes ten key recommendation, together with suggestions on how these might be implemented in China. Each recommendation is important – all the issues must be tackled and none ignored. The challenges created by coal use in China are no longer just a national issue – they transcend boundaries. Finding solutions in our increasingly globalised world demands much greater international engagement. The most powerful form of co-operation is international trade and this forms a central theme to the recommendations. All governments need to make sure that trade, linked to clean energy, grows quickly. This report provides policy makers with the information needed to appreciate the scale of the challenges faced and the role of international co-operation and collaboration in solving them. Providing insight for those outside of China is only one objective of the report; another is to share the experiences of developing coal-related policy in IEA member countries with policy makers in China. These experiences have been distilled into a single chapter, which, of course, cannot do justice to the efforts made over many years to improve the way coal is mined and used. |
