In an interview with Xinhua, Zhang Guobao, former head of China’s National Energy Administration, said that the country intends to increase the proportion of non-fossil fuels in overall primary energy use to 11.4% by 2015.
The target has been included in the 12th Five-Year Plan draft and is mandatory, he said, adding that it will keep China on course to achieve its goal of 15 percent by 2020. Currently non-fossil fuels account for 8 percent of China’s total energy consumption.
…Coal accounts for around 70 percent of China’s energy mix, 30 percentage points higher than the world average level. The heavy reliance on coal has put China under great pressure in dealing with climate change and protecting the environment, he said. The country should try to trim that dependency by promoting the use of cleaner fuels, he said.