China has become the world’s largest producer and consumer of renewable energy, with its carbon dioxide emissions reduced for two consecutive years, according to Spencer Dale, chief economist of the world oil and gas giant, BP, Thepaper.cn reported on July 12.

The chief economist made the statement at a press conference following the publication of the Chinese edition of the latest BP Statistical Review of World Energy.

China is still the world’s largest energy consumer, occupying 23 per cent of global energy consumption. It has been the fastest growing energy market for 16 consecutive years, according to the economist.

The economist added that renewable energy, excluding hydropower, has grown at very fast pace, although it accounts for only 3 to 4 per cent of global share of primary energy source.

The review shows that petroleum is still the most important fuel in the world. The market witnessed some equilibrium by the middle of 2016 as petroleum consumption increased by 1.6 per cent last year, while production rose by only 0.5 per cent.

In addition, the review points out that production of natural gas in 2016 only rose by 0.3 per cent due to low prices.

Global consumption of coal saw another decrease in 2016, down 1.7 per cent from the previous year, indicating that the glorious times of coal consumption are gone. Although coal is still the core fuel in China, its consumption dropped from 64 per cent to 62 per cent between 2015 and 2016.