Citigroup – China Nears Peak Coal

The popular climate denial crock “we can’t deal with climate change because china” has been dealt a series of blows lately.

Reuters:

Coal use in China, the world’s biggest polluter, could peak earlier than previously forecast as slower economic growth cuts power demand and the government clamps down on energy-intensive industries to meet its emissions reduction goals.

Organisations such as the government-affiliated Energy Research Institute (ERI) and the U.S.-based Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) are predicting coal use will peak before 2020. Previous industry forecasts have ranged from 2022 to 2027.

As well as hitting domestic miners, a quicker shift away from coal will also threaten sales by Australia and Russia – among the top coal exporters into China.

Citigroup, which cut its forecast for Chinese “peak coal” to 2020 last year, has also said China’s fight against pollution, together with efforts to improve energy efficiency and restructure its economy, could bring the date further forward.

“We expect this combination of factors to actually slow the power sector’s use of coal leading to a possible flattening and peaking before 2020,” Michael Eckhart, Citi’s global head of environmental finance, told a conference in Beijing this month.