For Beijing, the coal-conversion industry helps on two fronts. First, it enhances energy security. China is coal-rich, and thus every ton of liquid fuel, fertilizer and petrochemicals it generates using the dirtiest fossil fuel is one that it doesn’t need to manufacture using foreign oil and natural gas. The government has long seen its reliance on imported fossil fuels as a threat to national security.
Second, it creates a new use for local coal at a time when traditional consumers — power plants, steel furnaces and cement companies — are likely to reduce demand. As the world’s largest coal miner, digging the commodity employs directly about 2 million people in China, plus many more in supporting roles, like transport.
