China's coal consumption falls for third straight year

Beijing

CHINA'S energy transition is well underway, official figures show, with coal consumption falling for a third consecutive year in 2016, but the road ahead will be bumpy with overcapacity in the energy industry plaguing the economy, analysts say.

Both the Chinese government and the International Energy Agency had estimated China's coal consumption to plateau around 2030 before slowing. But coal consumption unexpectedly started falling since 2013 and has not picked up since.