China's government is reluctant to reduce coal usage for fear of causing unemployment and unrest, even though it's the cause of about 40% of pollution in the country. Cheap coal still provides 70% of China's energy and the country produces and consumes more coal than the rest of the world combined. The Chinese government has also been trying to curb air pollution, which it blames on industrial emissions from power plants that are burning dirty fuel.
China's government is reluctant to reduce coal usage for fear of causing unemployment and unrest, even though it's the cause of about 40% of pollution in the country. Cheap coal still provides 70% of China's energy and the country produces and consumes more coal than the rest of the world combined. Despite announcing recently that it will slash coal production and spend $360bn on renewable energy, the government is to build two hundred coal-fired power plants in the next decade, increasing coal capacity 20% by 2020.