Climate Politics
China Has Enough Coal Reserves to Last Another Five Decades
A coal depot in Jiaxing, Zhejiang province, China.
Photographer: Qilai Shen/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
China has enough coal for the next five decades and sufficient oil to last at least 18 years at current rates of production, according to the Ministry of Natural Resources.
The latest annual tally of reserves released on Wednesday shows an endowment of fossil fuels that stretches well beyond China’s 2030 deadline to peak its carbon emissions. In the case of coal, the worst fuel for global heating, there’s enough in the ground to take China past even its 2060 ambition to achieve carbon neutrality.