The Energy System of China

(and Hong Kong)
Published September 2023.

Global Carbon Ranking

► World’s largest CO2 emitter1.
► World’s largest coal producer2.
► Record coal production in 20223.

China is approving new coal power projects at the equivalent of two plants every week.

https://www.worldenergydata.org/china-continues-coal-spree-despite-climate-goals/

Fossil Fuel Production

Chart 1. China annual fossil fuel production. The time period of the charts differ due to different time periods of the available data. Data: Energy Institute Statistical Review of World Energy 20234 5.

Carbon Dioxide (CO₂) Emissions

Chart 2. China annual fossil fuel CO₂ emissions. Data: Energy Institute Statistical Review of World Energy 20234.

Total (Primary) Energy Supply

By Share

Total Energy Supply (also known as ‘Primary energy’) accounts for energy supplied prior to conversions to electricity or hydrogen. For help, see the introduction.

Chart 3. China total (primary) energy by share in 2022. Data: Energy Institute Statistical Review of World Energy 20234.
Chart 4. China primary energy by annual share of category (left) and fuel (right). Data: Energy Institute Statistical Review of World Energy 20234.

Absolute Quantities

Chart 5. Absolute values of China annual primary energy by category. Data: Energy Institute Statistical Review of World Energy 20234.
Chart 6. Absolute values of China annual primary energy by fuel. Data: Energy Institute Statistical Review of World Energy 20234.
Chart 7. Annual change of China primary energy by category. Data: Energy Institute Statistical Review of World Energy 20234. Values shown at the top of columns is annual change, rounded, in units of exajoules per year.
Chart 8. Annual change of China primary energy by fuel. Data: Energy Institute Statistical Review of World Energy 20234.

Carbon Intensity

Chart 9. Annual carbon intensity of China primary energy. Data: Calculated using Energy Institute Statistical Review of World Energy 20234.

Energy Consumption (i.e. Final Energy)

Final energy accounts the consumption of energy in final forms, and therefore can account for electricity separately from heat (e.g energy consumed for steel manufacture, or by transport). Unlike primary energy, final energy does not rely on calculating equivalences for non-combustible fuels such as solar and wind. For help, see the introduction.

Chart 10. China energy consumption (i.e final energy) by share. Data: IEA(2022)6. The Heat share refers to consumed heat produced by combined heat and power plants, and chemical reactions. Vales in upper-most charts rounded for clarity. Segments of electricity charts with <0.5% share not shown.

The above pie charts for each year are combined below to show the annual gross world energy consumption of each fuel, showing electric and non-electric energy consumption combined.

Chart 11. China gross energy consumption (i.e final energy) by share for years shown. Data: IEA(2022)6.
The area of each chart is proportional to that year’s total annual energy consumption relative to 1990.
Upper charts: Values rounded for clarity. Lower charts: Geothermal and Tidal in all years, Nuclear, Wind and Solar in 1990, and 2000, were too small to display.
Statistics were calculated by converting annual electricity production for each fuel from units of Wh to Joules, and then tallying these with respective ‘heat’ values associated with electricity generation, and thermal ‘total final consumption’ values from direct combustion. This method was used because total final consumption of electricity from separate fuels is unknown. The consequence is that Electricity Imports, Exports, Statistical Differences, Electricity Losses and Industry Own Use are included and therefore assumed to be equally shared between fuels, which is of course not the case.

Electricity

By Share

Chart 12. China electricity generation by share in 2022. Data: Energy Institute Statistical Review of World Energy 20234.
Chart 13. China electricity generation by annual share of category (left), and fuel (right). Data: Energy Institute Statistical Review of World Energy 20234.

Absolute Quantities

Chart 14. Annual China electricity generation, by category. Data: Energy Institute Statistical Review of World Energy 20234. For clarity, categories ‘Geo, Biomass and Other renewables’ and ‘Other’ are not shown.
Chart 15. Annual China electricity generation, by fuel. Data: Energy Institute Statistical Review of World Energy 20234.
Chart 16. Annual change of China electricity generation, by category. Data: Energy Institute Statistical Review of World Energy 20234. For clarity, categories ‘Geo, Biomass and Other renewables’ and ‘Other’ are not shown. Annual changes are shown at the top of each column, values rounded.
Chart 17. Annual change of China electricity generation, by fuel. Data: Energy Institute Statistical Review of World Energy 20234. For clarity, categories ‘Geo, Biomass and Other renewables’ and ‘Other’ are not shown.
Footnotes
  1. https://www.energyinst.org/statistical-review/about, 31% share in year 2022.(↩)
  2. https://www.worldenergydata.org/world-fossil-fuel-production-and-primary-energy/, 52% share in year 2022.(↩)
  3. https://www.worldenergydata.org/world-fossil-fuel-production-and-primary-energy/(↩)
  4. https://www.energyinst.org/statistical-review/about(↩)(↩)(↩)(↩)(↩)(↩)(↩)(↩)(↩)(↩)(↩)(↩)(↩)(↩)(↩)
  5. Sheets used from the data were: 1. ‘Coal Production – Tonnes’. 2. ‘Oil Production – Barrels’. Annual figure calculated. 3. ‘Gas Production – Bcm’.(↩)
  6. https://www.iea.org/data-and-statistics/data-product/world-energy-balances-highlights(↩)(↩)