cross-posted from: https://mander.xyz/post/52096768
- China accounts for over half of global coal production.
- Just six countries produce nearly 90% of the world’s coal.
- Asia dominates both total output and recent production growth.
China produces more coal than all nations combined.
According to the 2025 Statistical Review of World Energy, China produced 4.78 billion tonnes of coal in 2024, accounting for 51.7% of the global total.
Coal production is also highly concentrated beyond China. The top six producing countries, including India, Indonesia, and the U.S., together account for 87% of total supply.
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India ranks second at just over 1 billion tonnes, but its 11.7% share is far behind China’s majority.
The top six is rounded out by Indonesia (9.0%), the United States (5.0%), Australia (5.0%), and Russia (4.6%), after which production drops off sharply.
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But but every mountain is covered in solar panels?! At least that’s what the ML tell me.
Two things can be true at once.
They do still produce and use a lot of coal - highest in the world by country, but are transitioning to green energy (solar, wind, hydro etc) significantly more rapidly than most other nations.
Once that chart is updated for 2025 data it will show that China’s fossil fuel use actually decreased in 2025 over 2024 for the first time ever, as shown in the Wiki table. While energy use increased, all renewable energy continued to increase from a 32.33% share in 2024 to a 35.58% share in 2025 and fossil fuels fell. Their nuclear share is also increasing several percent every year.
Compare and contrast to western natkons like US, Australia etc… Our share of renewables is either increasing small amounts or flatlining, while fossil fuels mostly goes up.
Additionally even though they consume a lot of fossil fuels as a country, they’re not near the per capita fossil fuel use of Australia, the US, Canada, and dwarfed by Singapore and gulf states (Qatar, UAE etc).
There’s plenty to complain about with respect to China’s government policies and actions, but their green energy policy is certainly not one of them IMO.
Once that chart is updated for 2025 data it will show that China’s fossil fuel use actually decreased in 2025 over 2024 for the first time ever,
According to the Chinese Communist Party’s recently released 15th five-year plan: compared to the 14th five-year plan, China’s goals for non-fossil energy additions would see China’s annual green energy additions fall by more than half in the next five years, while at the same time, fossil fuel energy consumption would increase by 8-10%,
China is not on track to meet its 2060 carbon neutrality goal, according to climate think tank, Carbon Action Tracker.
Interesting website. I note that Australia is merely “insufficient”, while some others are critically insufficient. I have a range of complex feelings about that.
China uses a lot of coal and they’re producing solar panels and generating solar energy at record rates, these aren’t mutually exclusive thoughts
How much do they burn though. Likely mostly export no?
China is the largest producer and consumer of coal and coal power in the world, and Beijing has been expanding coal power plant in the country. Beijing has announced that it will increase its fossil fuel energy consumption over the next five years by 8-10% annually. Coal will play an important role here.
China’s coal imports rose 1.5% YoY in Jan-Feb 2026, setting new record
The figure set a new record for the January-February period, defying expectations that imports could be significantly affected by Indonesia’s planned production cuts … In early January, Indonesia announced plans to reduce its coal production target to around 600 million tonnes in 2026, compared with about 790 million.
It’s noteworthy that China’s coal imports largely mirror Indonesian exports.
IIRC, they export and import, as different systems run optimally on specific coal types, or different coal types have different cost points.
It’s been a while since I read about it though.
Sure, they’re producing. But who’s driving the apparent demand?
No one is driving this demand. Coal in steel, cement and concrete remains a major source of industrial fuel demand, and China is producing massive overcapacity in all these products. China counts for more than half of the world’s steel production, for example, beyond what global demand suggests would be the appropriate.
As an addition: In its report, The Global Coal Exit List 2025: Troubling Trends Towards Chemicals and Captive Power, the NGO Urgewald identifies India, China, and the U.S. as the main obstacles for a coal phase-out.
