Proposal on approaches to be adopted by the coal-related and coal preparation sectors under the strategic goals of achieving carbon peaking and carbon neutrality

In order to get a clear understanding of the circumstances and orientation of development of the coal industry against the backdrop of achieving the strategic goals of reaching carbon peaking and carbon neutrality, and to explore the approaches to be adopted by the coal-related enterprises, particularly the coal preparation sector to cope with the situation, the paper presents a corresponding analysis and accounts on aspects covering coal resources currently available, energy security and present state of the development of green energy in China. Analysis shows that the share of coal in primary energy consumption remains relatively stable worldwide; China is a coal-rich, oil-deficient and gas-scarce country, and its heavy reliance on imports for oil and gas supplies presents a high risk; the development of green energy such as hydropower, nuclear power, wind power, solar power and geothermal power tends to be subjected to big impacts brought by natural disasters, and the energy storage capacity is insufficient in technology; and the high-quality economic growth needs to count on coal as a guaranty. Such being the case, coal will remain as a stabilizer and a ballast in the country′s energy mix. The way for the realization of clean coal utilization and low-carbon development can be outlined briefly in a manner as intelligent green mining—intelligent clean processing—clean and high-efficiency utilization. As far as the coal enterprises are concerned, they are required to enhance the sense of crisis, make initiative to define their respective strategic position, industrial structure and business mode, shift the use of coal as fuel to a carbon-based raw stock for use in chemical sector, so as to create the professional superiorities and the capability to complement each other′s strong points. Meanwhile, the coal enterprises should accord great importance to carbon control and carbon trading work for offsetting the carbon emission costs. With regard to the coal industry, coal processing and preparation which plays a backing role for realizing clean and high-efficiency utilization of coal can help reduce policy-related risks and environmental protection expenditures, improve product quality and market competitiveness of enterprises, and there is ample scope for making use of such operations. The coal processing and preparation sector needs to lay stress on transformation of enterprises through turning it from a production model to a business model, enhancement of technologies innovation, and vigorous development of third-party service business, in a bid to better cope with the ever-increasingly severe market competition amid the drive for achieving carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals. The amount of CO₂ emitted during consumption of coal accounts for around 70% of the country′s total carbon emissions. For achieving the carbon peaking before 2030 and carbon neutrality before 2060, reduction of consumption of coal and carbon emissions has become a general trend. The analyses made and the proposals put forward in the paper may help promote the high-quality development of coal enterprises.