Directions for Sustainable Development of China’s Coal Industry in the Post-Epidemic Era

Lijuan Zhang () and Tatyana Ponomarenko
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Lijuan Zhang: Economics, Organization and Management Department, Saint Petersburg Mining University, 199106 Saint Petersburg, Russia
Tatyana Ponomarenko: Economics, Organization and Management Department, Saint Petersburg Mining University, 199106 Saint Petersburg, Russia

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 8, 1-32

Abstract: China’s energy structure is dominated by fossil fuels, especially coal consumption, which accounts for a relatively high share. In January 2020, the COVID-19 outbreak affected the global coal market, and many countries experienced negative economic growth. Economic development requires energy consumption. In 2021, China set a target of peaking carbon emissions by 2030 in order to phase out the dependence of carbon emissions on economic development. Therefore, the aim of this article is to develop directions for the sustainable development of China’s coal industry. Based on the macroenvironment and situation analysis, the article concludes that, under the influence of geopolitics, China’s shortage of imported coal resources and China’s continuous rise in coal demand, the share of coal in China’s energy structure will not decrease significantly in the long-term. The main directions for the sustainable development of China’s coal industry are to ensure the safety of coal energy storage and improve the level of safety supervision; coordinate the development of regional energy; increase the clean, efficient, and low-carbon utilization of coal; and strengthen international coal strategic cooperation.

Keywords: sustainable development; energy economy; Chinese coal industry; PESTEL analysis; SWOT analysis; post-epidemic era; circular economy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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