Coal production in China reached record levels in 2021, when the Chinese regime encouraged miners to increase production to ensure supply of energy in winter.
China is the largest producer and world consumer of coal, and produced 480,
million tons of fossil fuel in December
, up 7.2% from a year earlier, according to official data released on Monday. In November, the Asian country had already reached the record number of 372,84 million tons of coal.
Throughout the year of
, fossil fuel production also broke a record, with 4,07 billion tons, which represents an increase of 4.7% compared to 768.
Energy produced from coal is the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions of the greenhouse effect.
China has experienced a shortage in the supply of electricity in September and October of last year, which mainly affected industries. The main reasons for this shortage were a rapid increase in demand as economies recovered from the pandemic, and disruptions in coal supplies, according to the electricity market report published by the International Energy Agency this month.
To meet the global economic recovery, demand for industrial electricity has increased 12% in the first three quarters of 2021 in China, according to the same source. A summer with exceptionally high temperatures also caused an increase in the demand for electricity in the country.
Since October, Chinese authorities have ordered coal miners to work at full capacity to avoid a repeat of the September power outage, which affected industrial operations and contributed to inflation.