China has been burning 17 percent more coal annually than previously stated, according to a new report published by the country's statistical agency. The new figure poses a bigger challenge to the Chinese government and could affect the Climate Change Conference scheduled for Nov. 30, The New York Times reported.

The report's findings indicate that the country's coal consumption has been largely underestimated. Apparently, there had been data collection gaps, particularly from small companies. With China recently promising to stop the increase in its carbon dioxide emissions by 2030, the new figure makes the responsibility of fulfilling that promise more difficult -- and more urgent.

"This will have a big impact, because China has been burning so much more coal than we believed," said Natural Resources Defense Council adviser Yang Fuqiang, who used to be an energy official. "It turns out that it was an even bigger emitter than we imagined. This helps to explain why China's air quality is so poor, and that will make it easier to get national leaders to take this seriously."

Burning 17 percent more coal translates to using 600 million tons more coal in 2012. The added amount alone is already equal to 70 percent of the total yearly coal usage in the U.S.

"It's created a lot of bewilderment," Lin Boqiang, director of the China Center for Energy Economics Research at Xiamen University, told The New York Times. "Our basic data will have to be adjusted, and the international agencies will also have to adjust their databases. This is troublesome because many forecasts and commitments were based on the previous data."

Non-profit group Berkeley Earth released a report in August saying that 80 percent of people in China are exposed to air pollution on a regular basis. The report, published in the journal PLOS One, said that 1.6 million people die every year in China because of air pollution.

Li Shuo, senior climate and energy policy officer for Greenpeace East Asia, remains optimistic despite the report's findings. He said that China's coal consumption is now decreasing because of the economic slowdown and the government's efforts to reduce consumption.

"China's coal consumption probably won't get as high as what we saw for the past decade," Li told The Guardian.

@ 2018 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.