Share of coal in China's energy mix dips in 2018: NBS

SHANGHAI, Feb 28 (SMM) – The weight of coal in China's energy mix dipped 1.4 percentage points year on year, to 59% in 2018, despite a 3.3% increase in total energy consumption, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Thursday.

Last year, the world's biggest coal consumer used 1% more coal in absolute terms than in 2017, an increase for the second consecutive year. Overall energy consumption in 2018 stood at 4.64 billion mt of standard coal equivalent, the bureau said in its annual National Social and Economic Development communique. 

The share of clean energy in China's energy mix, including sources such as wind, solar, and natural gas, expanded 1.3 percentage points year on year to 22.1% in 2018.