According to the National Energy Administration (NEA) of China, total coal mining capacity in China increased by nearly 6% in 2018, reaching 3.53 Gt/year at the end of 2018, despite political commitment to reduce excess capacities in the coal sector and to cut fossil fuel consumption. Even if the sector is still restructuring - the total number of coal mines contracted by 14%, from 3,907 in 2017 to 3,373 in 2018 - the rising production capacity could undermine China's will to cap CO2 emissions by 2030.
Coal mining capacity should continue to rise in the short term, since an additional 1.03 Gt/year of approved coal mining capacity is currently under construction and 370 Mt/year under trial operation. Moreover, the NEA has already approved 7 coal mining projects totalling 22.5 Mt/year since January 2019. China expects coal production to average 3,9 Gt/year by 2020.
In 2018, China's coal production rose by 5.2% to nearly 3,550 Mt, and coal-fired power generation by 6%.