China plans to increase coal production

BEIJING (AP) — China plans to increase coal production through 2025 to prevent a repeat power shortage, an official said Monday, adding to setbacks in efforts to remove climate-changing carbon emissions from the biggest global source.

China is a big investor in wind and solar, but jittery Communist Party leaders called for more coal power after economic growth was reduced last year and shortages caused blackouts. That started warnings that carbon emissions will rise faster through 2030.

The ruling party targets annual coal production to rise to 4.6 billion tons in 2025, a deputy director of the Cabinet’s National Energy Administration, Ren Jingdong, said at a news conference. That would be a 12% increase over last year’s 4.1 billion tons.

Ensuring a normal power supply is especially sensitive after economic growth slid to 2.2% over a year earlier in the first six months of this year, less than half the official target of 5.5%. The ruling party earlier called for this year's production to rise by 300 million tons or about 7% of last year's output.

The challenges of depending on renewable sources were highlighted by a dry summer that left reservoirs in China's southwest too low to generate hydropower. That forced power cuts in Sichuan province and the major city of Chongqing.