Following a spat with Australia late last year, Beijing banned coal imports from there. As a result, China is left with far from ideal alternatives Beijing may choose to reduce power output, with all the consequences for reduced GDP growth and output Much is being made of Beijing’s efforts to meet its environmental emissions targets — the country states it will hit peak emissions before 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060 — and its restricted steel and aluminium production. But a recent Reuters post by John Kemp suggests output is being impacted more by a widening electricity crisis than by enforced shutdowns to meet environmental goals. China’s energy crisis Kemp explains that China is in the grip of a severe shortage of both coal and electricity. Coal output has not kept up with rising electricity demands from a rapidly recovering economy. China’s electricity generation increased by 616 Terawatt-hours (13%) […]