Five-year plan aims for cleaner coal consumption

Documentary on pollution restarts debate on the damaging impact of burning fossil fuels

The nation will launch a five-year action plan to make the industrial use of coal cleaner and more efficient amid a renewed debate on air pollution that has been sparked by a documentary on smog.

The industrial sector, excluding power generators, aims to cut coal use by more than 160 million metric tons by 2020, an official at the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said. Major industries, including those in the coking, coal chemical, industrial boiler and industrial furnace sectors, burned 1.6 billion tons of coal in 2012, accounting for 46 percent of China's total consumption. The electricity industry consumed 1.87 billion tons of coal that year.