Accurately Assess the Situation and Safeguard the Energy Security Bottom Line

Promote High-Quality Development of the Coal Industry

Zhang Hong, Member of the CPC Committee and Vice Chairman of the China National Coal Association

The Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee has systematically outlined the blueprint for economic and social development during the 15th Five-Year Plan period, making strategic arrangements to accelerate the building of a new energy system, enhance the clean and efficient use of fossil fuels, bring coal consumption to a peak, and build China into an energy powerhouse. The Central Economic Work Conference further clarified that a master plan for building China into an energy powerhouse should be formulated, and the development of a new energy system should be accelerated.

The 2026 National Energy Work Conference emphasized the need to firmly anchor the goals of preliminarily establishing a new energy system and advancing the building of a strong energy nation by 2030. It called for striking an appropriate balance among economic development and the overall energy mix; the total scale of energy supply and regional distribution; ensuring energy security while promoting energy conservation and carbon reduction; domestic self-reliance in energy and international cooperation; and energy technology innovation and the transformation and upgrading of the energy industry. The conference also stressed the importance of fostering and enhancing new advantages in innovative energy development to provide robust support for achieving the carbon peak target on schedule before 2030. These directives pose new, higher requirements for coal to play an even more prominent role in underpinning the nation’s drive to become a strong energy country.

We must thoroughly implement the spirit of the Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee and the decisions and arrangements made at the Central Economic Work Conference, and earnestly carry out the plans and requirements set forth at the National Energy Work Conference. The coal industry needs to recognize both the transformative challenges and pressures that will arise once total coal consumption enters a peak plateau during the 15th Five-Year Plan period, as well as the historic mission that coal is called upon to fulfill in the process of building China into an energy powerhouse. To this end, we should leverage the maximum certainty of a safe and stable coal supply to address various uncertainties and firmly safeguard the national energy security bottom line.

1. A New Positioning for Coal Development within the Framework of Building a Strong Energy Nation

Since the start of the 14th Five-Year Plan period, China’s capacity to ensure a safe and stable supply of coal has significantly improved, the industrial structure has been markedly optimized, the level of clean and efficient utilization has continued to rise, workplace safety in coal mines has steadily improved, and the market-oriented institutional mechanisms have become more robust and comprehensive. Coal has consistently played an irreplaceable role as a bottom-line safeguard in ensuring national energy security and supporting economic and social development, laying a solid foundation for high-quality development of the energy sector. During the 15th Five-Year Plan period, China’s development environment will undergo profound and complex changes. The country will be at a juncture characterized by both strategic opportunities and significant risks and challenges, with an increasing number of uncertain and unpredictable factors. Against the backdrop of the national imperative to become a leading energy power, coal development will confront new circumstances and requirements.

-- To support the development of a new energy system, coal should play an even greater role in system regulation. During the 15th Five-Year Plan period, the green and low-carbon transformation of the energy sector will accelerate across the board, with the share of new energy in the energy mix continuing to rise. Most of the increase in energy consumption is expected to be met by renewable sources. However, the intermittent and volatile nature of new energy, combined with seasonal, cyclical, and sudden climate changes, is placing higher demands on coal supply security, as well as on coal-fired power’s ability to meet peak demand, provide frequency regulation, and ensure stable grid operation. As a result, coal and coal power will play an increasingly prominent role as a reliable backstop and system regulator. To better enhance the flexibility and adjustability of coal supply, it will be necessary to adopt a range of measures, including optimizing capacity structure, upgrading to intelligent and flexible production systems, and strengthening reserve capacity building. – To implement the carbon peak and carbon neutrality strategies, coal must undergo comprehensive strengthening of clean and efficient utilization. The 15th Five-Year Plan period is a crucial and decisive stage for China to achieve peak carbon emissions. The Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee explicitly stated the need to enhance the clean and efficient utilization of fossil fuels and to promote a green and low-carbon transformation of energy consumption. During the 15th Five-Year Plan period, coal consumption will enter a plateau phase at its peak. Coal development will shift from “increasing production to ensure supply” to a new stage of “controlling volume while improving quality.” The use of coal will transition from being primarily a fuel to placing equal emphasis on both fuel and feedstock applications. It is imperative to accelerate the deep integration and innovative application of digitalization and green technologies across the entire coal industry value chain, with a view to establishing a clean and efficient coal utilization system characterized by low-carbon circularity and multi-energy coupling.

-- To meet the requirements of transformation and upgrading, the coal industry must accelerate its integrated development with new energy sources. Looking at the development trend, the increase in electricity demand during the 15th Five-Year Plan period will be primarily met by renewable energy sources. By 2035, the share of non-fossil fuels in total energy consumption is expected to exceed 30%. The coal industry must seize the current window of opportunity for green and low-carbon development. Driven by technological innovation, it should further accelerate the complementary and coupled growth of coal with new energy sources, establish and refine mechanisms for their integrated development, and create new pillars of green growth along the coal-based value chain. By aligning the extension of the coal value chain with the advancement of new energy, the industry can foster synergistic momentum and jointly promote both, thereby forging a “new track” that facilitates a green and low-carbon transformation of the sector. Overall, as new energy sources rapidly develop, their substitutability for coal is steadily increasing. However, at the current stage, without the backing of coal, it would be difficult for new energy to fully realize its potential. As the coal industry enters a plateau period approaching peak demand, the traditional growth model of scaling up and pursuing incremental expansion is becoming unsustainable. Therefore, promoting the transformation and upgrading of the coal industry has become a strategic imperative for its future development.

2. New Pathways for Coal Development Under the Goal of Becoming an Energy Powerhouse

Facing new circumstances, new tasks, and new challenges, the coal industry is accelerating the transformation and upgrading of the coal sector and optimizing and adjusting its production and development layout. It is enhancing coal supply security to higher standards, advancing clean and efficient coal utilization with greater determination, promoting digital and intelligent coal development with more robust measures, and formulating a forward-looking strategic vision for high-quality industry development. These efforts aim to drive safe, intelligent, clean, efficient, green, and low-carbon development of the coal industry during the 15th Five-Year Plan period, firmly fulfilling its responsibility to provide a bottom-line energy security guarantee and solidifying its role as the “ballast stone” of national energy security.

--Optimize the layout of production and development, and enhance the capacity to ensure safe and stable supply. Optimize the national layout of coal production and development by closely aligning it with China’s coal resource endowment. Reasonably control the intensity of resource development in eastern regions to extend the service life of coal mines. Conduct comprehensive resource assessments of key mining areas to secure resource supplies for the development of a number of large-scale, modern coal mines and to facilitate the orderly ramp-up of production capacity in these major modern mining complexes. Maintain the current production capacity of coal in Shanxi, Shaanxi, and Inner Mongolia. Based on changes in coal demand, moderately expand mining operations in Xinjiang and increase the volume of coal transported out of the region. This will establish a national framework for the tiered development and tiered utilization of coal resources. Strengthen management of new coal production capacity. Within the framework of national planning targets, rationally arrange various capacity-expansion measures, including new projects and expansion/renovation initiatives, to ensure that production capacity remains stable at an appropriate level.

--Accelerate science and technology-driven innovation and cultivate new-quality productive forces. Substantially intensify basic theoretical research on coal and key technological攻关, continuously achieving breakthroughs in fundamental theories and core technologies related to efficient resource development, safety assurance, green transformation of mining areas, and digital and intelligent applications. Promote the enhancement of manufacturing capabilities in equipment for safe and efficient intelligent coal mining, modern coal chemical processing, and mine safety, with a view to achieving intelligent mining, a green circular economy, industrial chain integration, and sustainable development, thereby striving to elevate the productivity of the coal industry. – Strengthen clean and efficient utilization to elevate the level of industrial transformation and upgrading. Improve mechanisms for clean coal production and efficient coal utilization, strengthen coal washing and preparation to enhance the quality of marketable coal, promote the harmless treatment, standard-compliant discharge, and comprehensive utilization of coal gangue and mine water, and actively advance the development and utilization of coalbed methane and other co-produced coal resources. Promote the research and development and industrialization of key technologies for the differentiated and tiered utilization of oil-rich coal, efficient coal conversion, and coal-to-materials applications, and establish circular economy parks. Leveraging the resources of former mining areas—such as land, industrial buildings, abandoned mine shafts, coal-mining subsidence zones, and deep coalbed methane—the region will develop tailored, specialty industries to promote industrial transformation and sustainable development in these areas. – Promote the integration of coal with new energy sources, and advance green growth, pollution reduction, and carbon emission reduction in mining areas. Accelerate the development of photovoltaic and wind power industries in mining areas, effectively leverage land resources, and vigorously promote clean energy substitution for fossil fuels in mining operations. Strengthen the electrification of key production processes, steadily advance the use of renewable energy for heating and cooling in mining areas, continuously innovate approaches to the green development and utilization of energy in these regions, and build efficient, low-carbon, and zero-carbon industrial parks and facilities to reduce carbon emissions.