Old habits die hard: China dominates global coal supply

China has quite a strange relationship with coal at the moment. Though the country produced more of it than ever last month, and domestic production looks on track to rise for the eighth year in a row, according to Bloomberg, the nation is simultaneously trying to turn away from the power source in favor of renewables like wind and solar, with demand for coal reportedly weakening against a shakier national economic backdrop. 

Indeed, China’s energy situation is a contradiction. Permits for future coal power plants dropped 83% in the first half of the year and, remarkably, the country is set to account for almost 60% of the world’s installed renewable-energy capacity by 2030. Yet at the same time, China is still responsible for supplying more of the world’s coal than any other country… and it’s not even close.

See the full article here.