China State Planner and the National Energy Administration issued the 15th
Five-Year Plan for coal industry development, calling for accelerated structural
upgrades and orderly withdrawal of backward and inefficient coal capacity. The
agencies require an establish-before-shutdown approach, coordinating mine
closures with regional supply security and implementing exits under
market-based, rule-of-law principles. Regional measures: western China to
optimize production and speed removal of mines with outdated technology or
overlapping ecologically sensitive areas; east-central China to prudently
withdraw disaster-prone mines that cannot be effectively remediated and
exhausted deposits while addressing legacy liabilities and worker resettlement;
southwest and northeast to set region-specific standards to steer small,
low-resource, low-safety mines out and use policy guidance and market measures
to ensure long-term suspended or halted mines are exited.
