China unveils 2017-2021 winter clean heating plan-media

BEIJING: China announced on Sunday a five-year plan to convert northern Chinese cities to clean heating during the winter through to 2021, state media reported, amid a deepening heating crisis.

An unprecedented government campaign to switch millions of households and thousands of businesses from coal to natural gas in northern China this winter has backfired.Severe natural gas shortages have sent prices soaring nationwide, hitting businesses and residents across China´s industrial heartland. The plan was jointly announced by 10 government agencies, including the state planning National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and the National Energy Administration, the online edition of Securities Times quoted the China Energy News as saying. The plan covers 2017 through to 2021.

The government has made “concrete arrangements” regarding geothermal heating, biomass heating, solar heating, gas heating, electric heating, industrial waste heating, and clean coal-fired central heating, the Securities Times said. Half of northern China would have converted to clean heating by 2019, reducing bulk coal burning by 74 million tonnes, it said. It gave no further details. Factories are closing or operating at reduced capacity, businesses are seeing profits shrink as supply chains are disrupted, and residents are struggling to keep warm in sub-zero temperatures without adequate heating at home or in classrooms, according to interviews conducted by Reuters across the region this month. The campaign to convert coal to gas is part of long-running government efforts to clean the region´s toxic air after decades of unbridled economic growth.