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  • SPOTLIGHT

China’s plan to cut coal and boost green growth

Innovations in energy-storage technology are a mainstay of the nation’s bid to reduce its reliance on fossil fuels.
By
  1. Sarah O’Meara

    1. Sarah O’Meara is a freelance writer in London.

In global energy rankings, one country stands out. China is the world’s hungriest consumer of energy worldwide — demanding the energetic equivalent of almost 3.3 billion tonnes of oil last year. Since 2011, it has burnt more coal than all other countries combined. And its reliance on this fossil fuel adds up: China emits around one-quarter of the world’s greenhouse gases, the largest share of any country.

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Nature 584, S1-S3 (2020)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-020-02464-5

Additional research by Kevin Schoenmakers.

This article is part of Nature Spotlight on clean energy in China, an editorially independent supplement. Advertisers have no influence over the content.

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