SACHA PFEIFFER, HOST:
China is the global leader in building solar and wind and batteries. Now a new report finds that all that renewable energy is starting to reduce some of the country's reliance on planet-heating coal. Here's NPR's Julia Simon.
JULIA SIMON, BYLINE: The report is from Ember, an energy think tank headquartered in London. Ember analysts looked at 26 provinces in China and found that in 17 of those provinces, coal growth was either declining or flat in recent years. That includes major industrial hubs like Shandong in eastern China.
MUYI YANG: We are seeing more and more provinces joining this group with stagnating coal generation.
SIMON: This is Muyi Yang, senior analyst at Ember on the Asia team and lead author of this report. Yang says there are a few big things going on in these provinces. Some are replacing coal generation with solar, wind and batteries. Other provinces are replacing coal with hydropower. And then there's China's investments in its electric grid. That allows Chinese provinces to move renewable energy around the country.
YANG: Importing more from neighboring provinces through these ultrahigh-voltage transmission lines.
SIMON: Jeremy Wallace, professor of China studies at Johns Hopkins University, thinks it's premature to write the final obituary for Chinese coal. Wallace, who did not participate in the Ember report, notes, in some Chinese provinces, coal use is growing.
JEREMY WALLACE: Coal is concentrated in particular places. And those places have economies that rely on coal. And so they, like West Virginia, are very concerned about what moving away from coal would really mean.
SIMON: Also, this year's El Nino climate pattern could cause disruptions in hydropower, leading some provinces to increase coal use. But Wallace says there is something else in the report that makes him optimistic.
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SIMON: Coal isn't the only fossil fuel that some parts of China are using less of. This week, NPR's China producer Jasmine Ling went out on a busy Beijing street. In China, there are lots of electric vehicles. For decades, China was a key driver of global oil demand. Now, with all the electric cars, trucks and scooters, Ember says electric transport is already displacing 1 million barrels of oil a day. Burning coal, oil and gas are the main reason China is the world's largest climate polluter. Now many parts of China are increasing the adoption of alternatives. Across the country, Yang says, the fossil fuel system is feeling the pressure.
Julia Simon, NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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