China will limit coal use to curb air pollution

Releases plan to cap coal consumption.

The plan will limit coal consumption to below 65% of China’s total primary energy use by 2017. The government said pressure to curb air pollution is rising amid China's industrialization and urbanization and increasing consumption of energy and resources.

According to the plan, new industrial projects in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region in north China, the Yangtze Delta region in the east and the Pearl River Delta region in the south will be banned from building their own captive power plants.

These regions will also be encouraged to replace coal use with power purchased from other areas or with power generated from natural gas or non-fossil fuels such as nuclear power.