China’s province of Shandong plans to eliminate 10.23 million tonnes of coal capacity, after the central government criticised Shandong officials for failing to take action to curb coal capacity. The Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) issued a statement earlier on the week accusing Shandong of deceiving authorities to evade capacity cuts in the polluting coal, steel, aluminium and chemical sectors. According to MEP total coal consumption in 2015 and 2016 increased by 6.94 million tonnes and 7.06 million tonnes respectively compared to the level in 2012.
