China to shut 1,000 coal mines & halt new mine approvals for 3 years

I guess you can say that this is another major blow to the prospect of the Adani Reef wrecking coal mine planned for Queensland. The price of coal has collapsed, and China just doesn't want it anymore. With a huge oversupply and their cities chocking on out of control smog, China is now in the process of moving it's massive economy to renewables.

China will stop approving new coal mines for the next three years and continue to trim production capacity as the world’s biggest energy consumer tries to shift away from the fuel as it grapples with pollution. 

China will suspend the approval of new mines starting in 2016 and will cut coal’s share of its energy consumption to 62.6 percent next year, from 64.4 percent now, Xinhua News Agency reported Tuesday, citing National Energy Administration head Nur Bekri. It’s the first time the government has suspended the approval of new coal mines, according to Deng Shun, an analyst with ICIS China. 

The world’s biggest producer of carbon emissions is seeking to boost the use of renewable fuels as smog has blanketed cities from Shanghai to Beijing, forcing factories and schools to close and intensifying pressure on public officials to cut pollution. This month China suspended price adjustments for fuel as a way to curb automobile exhaust and it has pledged to peak carbon emissions around 2030, by which time it aims to derive 20 percent of the energy it uses from clean sources. 

“This new policy, along with efforts to eliminate inefficient mines, may help to ease the severe domestic oversupply” of coal, Deng said by phone from Guangzhou. “It will take several years to take effect.” 

Renewable Boost 

The country will also close more than 1,000 coal mines next year, taking out 60 million metric tons of unneeded capacity, according to the Xinhua report. China shuttered a similar number of mines this year, wiping out 70 million tons of production, according to a separate statement from the NEA dated Dec. 29. The country is on track to produce 3.58 billion tons of coal this year, down 0.5 percent from 2014, according to the NEA. 

China plans to increase wind and solar power capacity by more than 21 percent and have at least 20 gigawatts of new wind power installations and 15 gigawatts of additional photovoltaic capacity next year, according to the NEA statement. Bloomberg Business   

Australia was well placed for this switch from China not so long ago, before the Lieberals canned the carbon tax. We've gone from world leaders to world lagers. To my knowledge Australia remains the first and only country to repeal a carbon tax.

All for the sake of Tony Abbott becoming prime minister with a big scare campaign of lies. Abbott sacrificed the national interest for his own political ambition. It will take many years to undo the damage he wrought in just two.