Group Urges Beijing to Cut Coal Emissions

By SHAI OSTER
BEIJING -- The International Energy Agency warned that China must clean up its coal sector or face dire environmental consequences for itself and the world.
The Paris-based body outlined steps to mitigate pollution in China, including tougher enforcement of regulations, more foreign investment in energy, and putting a price on carbon emissions.

"Without strong action, CO2 emissions could rise in an unsustainable way," IEA Executive Director Nobuo Tanaka said at a launch of a report on clean coal technology in China. The report was done in cooperation with the Chinese government, reflecting growing awareness in Beijing of the hazards posed by current energy trends.
The IEA's list of recommendations included calls for greater openness of China's domestic energy sector to outside investment, and a continued pursuit of new technologies to capture carbon emissions from power plants and sequester them in the ground or elsewhere. China has said it is making cleaning up its coal-fired power sector a priority and has implemented reforms, such as shutting hundreds of small and inefficient power plants, and instituting national energy-efficiency standards.
But Mr. Tanaka also suggested that China will have to eventually charge for carbon emissions -- a move Beijing has vigorously resisted out of fears it could stymie economic growth. Making companies pay for how much carbon they produce could be a part of setting national limits on emissions.
"Ultimately, a market in which emissions of carbon are priced will emerge," Mr. Tanaka said. "I see that a debate is taking place in China about how quickly China should move in that direction."

Developed countries participating in the United Nations' Kyoto Protocol on global warming have already accepted national caps on greenhouse-gas emissions, requiring industries that pollute more to buy so-called carbon credits.
China has no national limits on carbon emissions. It has earned billions of dollars through the Kyoto plan because companies in developed countries can invest in pollution-reduction programs in China in exchange for credits to apply to their emissions back home.
China has surpassed the U.S. as the world's leading source of global-warming greenhouse gases. That status is the byproduct of roaring economic growth that has lifted millions from poverty, but relied heavily on coal as the primary source of energy.
Write to Shai Oster at shai.oster@wsj.com