China has approved an increasing number of new coal mine construction plans since the start of 2019, despite its air cleaning and CO2 reduction policies. According to documents from the National Energy Administration (NEA), Chinese regulators approved a total new coal production capacity of 141 Mt/year between January and June 2019, up from 25 Mt/year approved in 2018. The new coal mines will be located in Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang, Shanxi and Shaanxi, in line with China's policy to consolidate coal production at dedicated production bases.
In spite of the national target to raise the share of non-fossil fuels in the Chinese energy mix to 15% by the end of 2020 and to 20% by 2030, and to reduce the share of coal from 68% in 2012 to 59% in 2020, coal consumption is still expected to increase. In 2019, China State Grid Corporation forecast that coal-fired power capacity would still increase by 200 - 300 GW. China has made "ultra-low emissions" technologies mandatory in all new coal-fired power plants to reduce emissions while raising coal-fired power generation.
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