| Coal is the most carbon-intensive fossil fuel by far and China is the world's largest producer and most voracious consumer. According to estimates published in May by the US Energy Information Administration, China was responsible for 46% of global coal production and 49% of global coal consumption in 2012, having already accounted for 69% of the 3.2 billion ton increase in global coal production during the decade prior.
The existing reportage on the consequences of this dependence is legion: Higher heart disease and cancer rates due to polluted air; international airports temporarily shuttered by smog; vast tracts of land gutted, scraped and despoiled; people buried alive by collapsed illegal mines that churn out low-quality rock and depress prices...............................................Full Article: Source
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