page_title: Coal in China
section_title: Production
hierarchical_section_title: Coal in China / Production
caption_attribution_description: English: Coal production in China, 1950-2012
context_page_description: China is the largest producer and consumer of coal in the world and is the largest user of coal-derived electricity. The share of coal in the energy mix declined during the 2010s, falling from 80% in 2010 to 57.7% in 2019.
  Overall electricity consumption continued to rise in the 2010s, and new coal-fired power plants were constructed to help meet demand. But to curtail the pace of coal-fired power station construction, the National Energy Administration in 2017 canceled coal-fired power plant permits that would have amounted to 120 GW of future capacity. However, local authorities seeking to create jobs resisted the efforts of central authorities to cut back. Despite central government attempts to clamp down on construction and shifting demand in the market to renewable, nuclear and natural gas sources, 135 GW of coal-power capacity was either permitted or under construction in China according to a US-based NGO in January 2020.
  Chinese construction firms are also building coal-fired power stations in other countries.
caption: Coal production in China, 1950-2012
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