In China’s coal country, a ban brings blue skies, cold homes
The New York Times
QIAOLI, China — A monument to China’s efforts to wean itself from coal rises on the outskirts of this village deep in the heart of the nation’s coal country.
Scores of old coal stoves have been dumped in a lot, removed by government decree in recent months in favor of cleaner-burning natural gas furnaces.
“Defend blue sky and breathe together,” an exhortation painted on the brick wall surrounding the lot says. “Manage haze and work together.”
China has long faced skepticism over its pledges to wage a “war on pollution” and end its unrestrained burning of coal. And indeed, demand for coal rose again last year after declining the previous three years.
This coal-stove graveyard, however, is a manifestation of China’s ambitious effort this winter to all but end its dependence on coal for heating homes and businesses in hopes of clearing up the country’s eye-watering, throatscraping pollution. The central government has set specific targets and backed up its decrees with threats of fines andother punishments.
What has happened here in the northern Chinese province of Shanxi, the country’s largest coal-producing region, and in other regions shows how far the government has gone in imposing its environmentalism from above. Eager to impress Beijing, officials in this province of 37 million people have moved so aggressively that in some cases they have created unintendedconsequences.
Many coal stoves were removed before new furnaces were installed, leaving tens of thousands of people shivering without heat when winter’s first cold snap arrived earlier than normal. Then, with so many districts switching to natural gas at once, demand for the new source of fuel overwhelmed supplies, sending prices soaring and creating shortages.
The benefits of the government’s campaign are nonetheless being felt in the comparatively blue skies that have blessed Beijing and other cities that were a focus of the authorities’ efforts, including in Shanxi’s provincial capital, Taiyuan.
Longer term, the impact could be felt globally, too, backing up President Xi Jinping’s pledge to put China in the “driving seat in international cooperation to respond to climate change” by reducing emissions at a time when the United States under President Donald Trump has treated the issue dismissively.
“It’s definitely had a major impact on air quality already, and it’s going to have a major impact on coal production in the future,” said Lauri Myllyvirta, an energy analyst with Greenpeace in Beijing.
“There’s a plan to carry out these policies over a much larger area,” he went on, adding that the accomplishments thus far “took a huge amount ofdetermination.”
Household and commercial users of coal represent only about 6 percent of China’s total, but they do not have the filtering systems of bigger coal users, mainly government power plants. That means that reducing use of coal in homes and businesses has a disproportionately large effect in reducing coal-related emissions.
To be sure, many Shanxi residents complained that the cost of heating their homes with gas furnaces or electric heaters was now much higher. Often they did so while wearing winter coats, hats and scarves indoors.