China's National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the country's leading economic planning body, endorsed a new regulation on December 23 aimed at bolstering the planning and management of coal mining zones, People's Daily reported.

The regulation is scheduled to come into force on February 1, 2025, aligning with China's broader strategy to optimize coal resource utilization and ensure stable energy supply.

Coal production areas with a mining capacity surpassing 10 million tonnes per annum (Mtpa) must have their comprehensive mining plans first reviewed by provincial coal mining authorities before being submitted to the NDRC for final approval, the new regulation said.

Previously, the threshold for NDRC review was set at 3 Mtpa, according to the provisionary version of the regulation that took effect on July 3, 2012.

For coal mining areas with a total capacity of 10 Mtpa or less, the comprehensive plans will be greenlighted by provincial coal management departments and filed with the NDRC and the National Energy Administration (NEA) for record-keeping.

Additionally, the regulation stipulated that for mining areas deemed strategically vital to national development, their mining plans may be organized and implemented directly by the NDRC and NEA.

China remains committed to its "dual-carbon" targets by expanding renewable energy capacity while retaining coal-fired power as a crucial backup for energy security.

As of November 2024, China's installed power generation capacity reached 3,230 GW, rising 14.4% from a year ago, with thermal coal capacity accounting for 1,430 GW, according to the latest data released by NEA.

China produced 427.98 million tonnes of raw coal in November 2024, up 1.8% year on year and 3.93% month on month, showed data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on December 16.

Above-designated enterprises in China churned out 4.32 billion tonnes of raw coal in the first 11 months this year, rising 1.2% year on year, NBS said.

Meanwhile, China's railway sector has averaged 87,680 coal transports per day since November, 3.3% higher than the year-ago level, Xinhua News Agency reported.