by Charles Liu
The NanfangToday, 9:22 AM
The revelation that China burns much more coal than it reports – to the amount of several million tons – may complicate negotiations at an upcoming international meeting in Paris to curtail greenhouse gases.
As reported in the New York Times, data in an energy statistics yearbook published by China’s statistical agency show that coal consumption in the country has been under-reported since 2000, with up to 17 percent more coal burned a year than the government had previously disclosed.
This means that China – already the world’s leading emitter of greenhouse gases – could be releasing about a billion more tons of carbon dioxide a year than first thought. This amount is greater than the total greenhouse emissions by Germany each year.
According to the revised data, China is now said to have consumed 4.2 billion metric tons of coal in 2013, putting it way out in first place ahead of the number two position, the USA.
The increase of coal use comes mainly from China’s heavy industries rather than from power generating plants.
China has underestimated its coal use before. In the late 90s, small coal mines stopped reporting their output when ordered to close, thus giving the false impression that China had generated economic growth without increasing emissions.
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