Tracing the inter-regional coal flows and environmental impacts in Jing-Jin-Ji region

Coal, which plays a critical role in sustaining society development in Jing-Jin-Ji region (China), has become a controversial issue and has aroused extensive attention due to its impications with both climate change and human health. Based on the model of inter-regional transportation in Jing-Jin-Ji, we propose a Regional Coal Industry Chain Balance Table to define the full coal chain energy flows analysis framework. Besides, process chain analysis and input-output analysis are used for embodied energy accounting as well as for environmental impact assessment of 24 kinds of pollutants in the region. Results show that the direct use of raw coal represents a large proportion in Jing-Jin-Ji region's coal industry chain. By comparing the results from embodied energy analysis with the energy analysis findings, we can ascertain that coal chemical industry still keeps quite a small share of the energy consumption of coal industry chain. Coke is the main source of energy uses in final consumption, being also the key contributor in terms of embodied energy. In terms of final consumption, the industry keeps the vast majority of the use share (about 90%) in both direct and indirect flows. Consequently, a more effective control of industrial use of coal resources would play a fundamental role for improving energy efficiency and for decreasing pollution. The energy utilization efficiency of coal cleaning, coal products processing and coking of coal conversion in Jing-Jin-Ji region during year 2012 were 87.77%, 92.46 and 90.97%, respectively, i.e. a little less than the energy utilization efficiency of coal refining in China for the same year (96.16%). The direct use of raw coal, coke and the coking process were the key contributors to the 7 main pollutants of coal industry chain in Jing-Jin-Ji region 2012. Responding appropriately would improve the direct use of raw coal, coke and the coking process, while reducing the emissions of coal industry chain in Jing-Jin-Ji region. This study provides theoretical support and policy suggestions to increase the energy utilization efficiency, to reduce the consumption of embodied energy and to reduce the emissions of coal industry chain in Jing-Jin-Ji region