September 17, 2015

By William Pentland

China burned more coal between 2000 and 2013 than the country said it did, according to China's National Bureau of Statistics, which has revised previously reported data on coal consumption and production between 2000 and 2013.

China. Credit: Archbob

The revisions, which appear in the 2015 version of China's Statistical Abstract (CSA), indicate that total coal consumption during the 13 year period was 14% higher than previously reported. In addition, the revisions indicate that coal production during that period was 7% higher than previously reported. 

As a result of the revised data on coal consumption and production, China's total annual energy consumption and production were also revised upward by about 11% and 7%, respectively. In 2014, energy-content-based coal consumption was essentially flat, and production declined by 2.6%.

The CSA provides annual total primary energy consumption and production in tons of standard coal equivalent (TCE).

In a recent article on the revised data, Ayaka Jones, an analyst at the U.S. Energy Information Administration, provided the following context: "The direction and the magnitude of the revision are largely consistent with the widely reported issues associated with Chinese coal statistics, which likely are the reasons for previous upward revisions of coal consumption: disagreements between national totals and the sum of provincial reports, misalignment of reporting methods, and inherent difficulties in achieving data accuracy in a constantly and rapidly changing market as large as China's."

The revisions have potentially huge ramifications for international climate change negotiations. In March, the International Energy Agency reported that global greenhouse gas emissions remained flat in in 2014, despite robust growth in the global economy.

The IEA's finding suggested that economic growth and greenhouse gas emissions had begun to decouple. Significantly lower coal consumption in China was critical for keeping global emissions flat. But the revised coal consumption data means that rather than falling slightly, coal consumption in China actually increased slightly in 2014.

The revisions in China's coal consumption data "raise doubts about whether that historic decoupling of economic growth and carbon emissions from energy use actually occurred," according to Reuters.

For more:
- read this article

© 2015 FierceMarkets, a division of Questex, LLC. All rights reserved.

http://www.fierceenergy.com/story/misreported-china-changes-its-tune-coal-consumption/2015-09-17