On August 10, 2026, the National Development and Reform Commission and the National Energy Administration recently issued the "15th Five Year Plan for the Development of the Coal Industry", which proposed the main goals of basically building a modern coal industry system by 2030. Coal is the fundamental energy source in China. Accelerating the construction of a modern coal industry system with coordinated optimization of layout, safe and stable supply, development of green intelligence, clean and efficient utilization, and scientific and standardized governance can provide strong support for building an energy powerhouse and a new energy system.

During the 14th Five Year Plan period, China's coal development layout continued to optimize, with coal production reaching 4.85 billion tons; The coal industry structure continues to optimize, and the overall independent innovation capability of the industry has risen; The construction of the modern coal market system continues to deepen, the medium and long-term contract system for ensuring the supply of electricity and coal is constantly improving, and the mechanism for forming coal market prices is gradually improving.

The 15th Five Year Plan period is an important period of transformation and development for coal, and coal consumption will reach its peak. Focusing on the main line of building a modern coal industry system, the plan proposes nine key tasks, namely optimizing the spatial layout of coal development, accelerating the optimization and upgrading of the coal industry structure, strengthening the construction of the coal production, supply, storage and sales system, promoting the intelligent iteration and upgrading of coal mines, accelerating the green and low-carbon transformation of coal, strengthening the clean and efficient utilization of coal, enhancing the technological innovation capability of coal, strengthening the management of coal safety production, and improving the modernization level of industry governance.

Five major projects are planned and deployed, including the construction of coal supply guarantee bases, iterative upgrading of coal mine intelligence construction, integrated development of coal and new energy, improvement of commodity coal quality, and innovation of coal technology and equipment. In addition, the plan will issue the "Coalbed Methane (Coal Mine Gas) Development and Utilization Plan" as an attachment, which proposes that by 2030, the production of coalbed methane will be 26 billion cubic meters, and the utilization of gas will be 6.5 billion cubic meters.Editor/Gong Ziwei