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China's 2017 coal-fired power capacity reduction exceeds national target

China cut 65 GW of coal-fired power capacity in 2017, beating its national target of 50 GW, Reuters reported March 1, citing the state-owned Xinhua News Agency.

As part of its efforts to tackle air pollution and transition to cleaner energy sources, the country aims to eliminate 109 GW of coal-fired power capacity by the end of the decade while maintaining its total installed coal-fired power capacity below 1,100 GW, the report said.

It also slashed 27 million tonnes of coal capacity in the prior year, beating its reduction target of 24.7 million tonnes. Despite this, coal consumption went up for the first time since 2013, but coal usage as a portion of total energy consumption dropped by 1.6 percentage points to 60.4% amid Beijing's push to convert coal heating to gas or electric.

China aims to impose even tougher air quality targets in the coming three years, the report said.