The historic fall in China's coal use is a clear and consistent trend and should be factored in by business, including in Australia, one of the world's leading experts on Chinese environment policy says.

Professor Qi Ye, director of the Brookings-Tsinghua Centre in Beijing, told Fairfax Media the stalling of growth in China's consumption of coal for power reflected the current development strategy of the national government.

Professor Qi Ye, one of the world's leading experts on Chinese environmental policy, is in Melbourne this week speaking at a climate investors' conference. Credit:Justin McManus

Observers of China have been striving to interpret an 18-month fall in coal consumption – the first this century – that has followed otherwise significant growth in the decade previous.

China is the world's biggest consumer of coal and largest emitter of greenhouse gases. Whether it cleans up its economy will be one of the dominant factors in whether the planet can halt dangerous climate change.