Carbon Emissions from Coal Mining in China's Coal Resource Cities

Coal is considered to be the most polluting energy source, generating large amounts of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and air pollution during all stages of the process, including coal mining, transportation, storage, preparation and utilization. Generally speaking, carbon emissions during coal utilization are the focus of the coal industry, while CO2 emissions during coal production, which is at the front end of the industrial chain, are often neglected. The estimation of CO2 emissions based on coal production is of great significance in guiding China to realize the sustainable utilization of coal resources. This study adopts a top-down modeling approach, based on the whole energy system, to measure the carbon emission data of coal mining in each resource city in China through the carbon emission factor EF of energy. The data results show that the coal mining in China's coal resource cities that generate more carbon emissions are mainly concentrated in Shaanxi Province and Inner Mongolia in the Jin-Shaan-Meng-Ning-Gan region, Hebei Province, Shandong Province and Anhui Province in the eastern region, and Chongqing, Guizhou Province and Yunnan Province in the southern region.