China's green transition underpinned by coal 'backup'

He stressed the pivotal role of coal in meeting the huge electricity demand in China.

Coal dominates China's fossil fuel reserves, constituting about 90 percent of the total, he said. The country hinges on imports to meet about 45 percent of its natural gas and 70 percent of its oil demand.

"Therefore, for a long time in the past, coal has been the mainstay driving China's power development and promoting its economic and social progress," Wang said. "This is a reality that constitutes the fundamental rationale behind China's reliance on coal."

Driven by its higher combustion efficiency and the relative ease of monitoring and managing emissions, China has increasingly channeled coal into electricity generation, lifting the share used for electricity generation above 50 percent of its total coal consumption, he said.

This practice mirrors long-established approaches in Western nations to improve air quality in their industrialization processes, Wang added. In Germany and the United States, for example, over 90 percent of coal is used for power generation.

Wang stressed that coal-fired power plants in China serve a critical dual purpose, providing not only electricity but also essential urban heating.

Two to three decades ago, heating was supplied by a large number of scattered small coal-fired boilers in the country's urban areas. To address inefficiency and pollution, the country transformed coal-fired power plants into dual-purpose facilities that generate electricity and also supply heat.

Instead of wasting the heat produced during electricity generation, it is captured and channeled into heating networks. This dramatically boosts overall energy utilization efficiency, Wang explained.

"Currently in China, more than half of all coal-fired power plants operate as cogeneration units," he said, adding that by replacing small, inefficient boilers with centralized plants, emissions are significantly reduced, air quality improves and energy use becomes far more efficient.

"Phasing out coal-fired power is contingent upon first resolving the heating supply challenge," he underscored.