CHINA’S coal demand will start to fall in 2025 once consumption at utilities and other industrial sectors reaches its peak, a state-owned think tank said in its latest report.

The world’s biggest coal consumer is expected to see total consumption fall 18 percent from 2018 to 2035, and by 39 percent from 2018 to 2050, the CNPC Economics and Technology Research Institute, run by the State-owned China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC), forecast in a report.

Cutting coal consumption and replacing it with cleaner energy like natural gas and renewables has been a key part of China’s energy strategy.

Though the share of coal in the country’s total energy mix fell to 59 percent last year from 68.5 percent in 2012, overall consumption in 2018 rose 3 percent from a year earlier to 3.82 billion tons, official data showed.

However, the CNPC researchers said they expected the total share of coal to drop to 40.5 percent by 2035 as renewable, nuclear and natural gas capacity continues to increase rapidly.(SD-Agencies)