A recent assessment on air pollution controls has advised northern regions to put stricter guidelines on bulk coal consumption, especially in the heating seasons, while also arguing a cap on coal consumption could further reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Bulk coal consumption has been proven to be more polluting than coal consumption in industries, which generate more airborne pollutants than the level discharged from companies, according to the recently-released China Air Quality Management Evaluation Report.
For example, bulk coal consumption, including those used in households for heating in winter, was more than 36 million tons annually, accounting for less than 10 percent of the total consumption in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.
But half of the total airborne pollutants emitted was generated from bulk coal consumption, which could rise to be the prime source of the severe smog in some instances, replacing traditional sources such as industrial production and vehicle exhausts, said Wang Lisha, one of the authors of the assessment report, which was conducted by the Clean Air Alliance of China, a green organization based in Beijing.
"The effective curbs in bulk coal consumption could help the governments control the smog, which has been proved true in the process of easing the severe air pollution last year, and it will remain a major effort that the governments take in the coming winter," Chai Fahe, deputy head of the China Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, told the conference where the assessment report was released.
Beijing has continued to phase out coal-fire boilers in its suburbs, which were mainly used for household heating in winter. And Tianjin invested 1.72 billion yuan ($258 million) last year to reduce bulk coal consumption.
A cap on coal consumption would facilitate the green growth of industries and also help China reduce greenhouse gas emissions, to offset global warming, said Xie Hongxing, secretary general of the alliance. If the nine provinces, which released their plans to cap coal consumption (including Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei), reach the reduction goals they set by 2017, carbon dioxide emissions could be reduced by 600 million metric tons, Xie said.
China has promised to reach the carbon emission peak around 2030, in a bid to deal with climate change, and has undertaken a mix of measures such as expanding the use of green energies, such as solar power, to reduce coal consumption.
（Source：China Daily）
