"the golden decade for coal is over."

Good news! China needs and insists on having cleaner air.

China's smog threatens health of global coal projects

BY FAYEN WONG SHANGHAI

(Reuters) - A choking smog across much of northern China threatens not just the health of local residents, but also of major coal projects globally that are still on the drawing board.

I got an idea how bad the air in Beijing can get last winter, in only moderately bad air pollution. With China's coal demand the primary driver for a slew of mine investments over the past decade, this trend could derail a list of capital intensive coal projects from Australia to Indonesia and Mozambique. I don't see the US on that list but its getting more likely to join those countries ranks as the business case for the proposed coal mega ports in Longview, and near Bellingham, Washington continues to deteriorate along with the international coal market. "China is kicking its coal addiction," said Chen Yafei, vice-director at the China Coal Research Institute. "With slower economic growth and a big push towards gas and renewables, the golden decade for coal is over." "The prospect of weaker demand growth and prices at near marginal production costs suggest that most thermal coal growth projects will struggle to earn a positive return for their owners," Goldman Sachs said in a report. Just how noncompetitive is coal becoming in China? "The pollution question in China is huge so they will shift more towards gas for transportation and in power, no matter how high the price is," Ian Taylor, chief executive of Swiss trading house Vitol, told Reuters. This report adds China may become an exporter of the dirty black fuel as its domestic demand for coal drops and transportation from China's mines to its ports improves.

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The world is finally turning away from coal.