Beijing's municipal development and reform commission announced Tuesday that the city will nearly eliminate coal consumption in its plain areas and six downtown districts by 2020. The plan, part of China's broader effort to combat air pollution, will replace almost all downtown coal use with clean energy, electricity, and gas.
All coal-fired boilers used for heating and industrial purposes will be converted to clean-energy alternatives. The commission also set a citywide gross coal consumption cap of 5 million tonnes by 2020, with total energy consumption limited to the equivalent of 76 million tonnes of standard coal—an average annual increase of 2.1 percent.
Under the plan, renewable energy is projected to account for more than 8 percent of Beijing's total energy consumption by 2020, while the share of high-quality energy consumption is expected to exceed 95 percent. The measures represent the latest step in China's efforts to reduce pollution, which the commission frames as necessary to save lives and prevent environmental destruction.
Editorial Notes