China has delivered nearly 10 percent annual Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth for the past two decades. Newly released data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration suggest that China's GDP is on a trajectory to soar five-fold by 2035.

 

It's no coincidence that the Asian giant is the world's largest coal user. The world's fastest-growing economy is also the world's fastest-growing coal market, accomplishing what no other nation has by navigating industrialization, urbanization and modernization all at once.

 

China uses coal to fuel approximately 80 percent of its electricity for basic needs and for providing the steel that creates the foundation for its fast-growing cities. It is expected to use more electricity than the entire Western Hemisphere in as little as the next two decades as hundreds of millions of citizens transition from rural to urban lifestyles.

 

More steel is going into the ground in China than anywhere else in the world: In fact, China consumed enough iron and steel last year to rebuild the entire U.S. commercial air fleet. Perhaps that's why China accounts for more than 60 percent of the global metallurgical coal market, most of which is used domestically for steel production.

 

Peabody Energy has a growing global platform to serve China and other high-growth demand centers of Asia through our business and trading office in Beijing, Australia operations and expanded coal trading platform, including our Asian hub in Singapore. Peabody is advancing partnerships in China with leading energy, coal and steel companies to develop coal-related projects using best practices in safety and environmental excellence.

 

Key initiatives include an agreement with the Inner Mongolia Region, the Xilinguole League and the Jitong Railway Group to develop a large coal mine and gasification project that could produce methanol or chemicals. Inner Mongolia is China's fastest-growing coal region.

 

Under a pact with Shanxi Lu'an Mining Group Company, Peabody is exploring joint development and operation of Lu'an's Shaxi Mine in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in Northwestern China. The Shaxi Mine has access to a large dedicated thermal coal resource and the potential to expand in line with the development of a new rail project that would serve electricity customers and other industrial users in Central and Eastern China. A number of other projects and partnerships are being pursued.

 

Peabody is the only non-Chinese participant in the GreenGen near-zero emissions power plant and carbon research center in Tianjin. GreenGen is China's signature carbon initiative and will be the first integrated gasification combined cycle power plant in China, in later phases using carbon for enhanced oil recovery. The project will generate electricity for Chinese families and businesses. Phase one generation is expected to be online as early as next year.

 

Peabody is also a founding member of the U.S.-China Energy Cooperation Program, a public-private partnership to accelerate the commercialization of clean coal projects in China. Peabody is one of only five organizations invited to lead the initiative as part of the program's governing Executive Committee.

 

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