China is a carbon junkie. It is by far the world’s largest producer of coal, accounting for 45% of global output, and is coal’s greediest consumer.

In 2005, China burned more than 1.2 billion tonnes of coal and emitted more carbon dioxide than the whole of Europe. Within a few years, China is forecast to overtake the US as the world’s biggest emitter of greenhouse gases.

China needs cheap energy, and coal provides it. Over the past quarter-century, economic growth has helped push China’s annual energy consumption up by an average of 7% a year. Demand has largely been met by increased mining of domestic coal, which is both plentiful and cheap. At 188 billion tonnes, China has the world’s second largest coal reserves, next to the US.

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