The move, according to the Xinhua News Agency, will save around 100 million metric tons per year (mtpy) of raw coal and cut carbon dioxide emissions by 180 million mt annually. China burns 4,000 million mtpy of coal, so that would represent 2.5%. Ironically, Beijing ordered hundreds of factories to shut down and allowed children to skip school one day during the Paris talks as choking smog reached over 25 times safe levels. China is estimated to have emitted nearly twice as much carbon dioxide as the U.S. in 2013, and around two and a half times the European Union’s total.
