According to the Chinese Ministry of Ecology and Environment, China expanded its coal-to-gas and coal-to-electricity switch projects, from 12 cities in 2017 to 35 cities in 2018. The energy substitution programme, which aims at converting households to low-emission heating, is part of China's objective of decreasing air pollution. 4 million households switched from coal to natural gas and electricity in 2017 but delays in the implementation of critical gas infrastructure and widespread natural gas shortages created a heating crisis and Chinese authorities had to relax their coal ban across 28 northern cities. In 2018, 4.8 million households switched from coal to gas and electricity in 2018.
Eventually, the country also reported that it had installed ultra-low emissions technology at more than 80% of the coal-fired power capacity. In 2018, China's coal consumption increased for the second year in a row (+1%), even if its share in primary energy consumption declined to 59%. The share of coal in China's total energy consumption has been declining since 2014 (66%). China's policy objective of reducing the proportion of coal in the domestic energy mix to below 58% by 2020 seems achievable.
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