ANKARA
China must reduce its reliance on coal by half in the next thirty five years in order to meet its energy demands in a sustainable manner, according to a new report by the Asian Development Bank.
China needs to be reduced its reliance on coal from current 60 percent to nearly 35 percent. Coal would be replaced by other energy sources such as gas and nuclear power and the ADB report forsees the reliance on natural gas and uranium import for China.
Coal is also India's primary source of energy with 44 percent of total energy consumption. The country ranked the third-largest global coal producer, consumer and importer of coal in 2012, according to International Energy Agency (IEA) data.
Additionally, India needs to increase the share of nuclear energy in the power generating mix to 8 percent from current rate of 3 percent while the share of coal-fired power plants in total electricity generation is expected to drop to 62 percent in 2050, from current about 65 percent.
The report also states that coal-fired power plants in China also need to be partly replaced by gas-fired plants. This would lead to an increased use of gas and nuclear power and hence increased natural gas and uranium imports.
The report assumes that in addition to an increased use of natural gas and nuclear power, the use of renewable energy in China would also rise to 17 percent from the current 12 percent. The share of coal would drop to just 26 percent, thus potentially making the China a net exporter of coal by 2050.
China's primary energy requirements will increase more than 5 times by 2050, the Energy Efficiency report says. It adds that India's energy requirements will increase 13 times by 2050.
