Tianjin Port has also stayed busy loading thermal coal to ships destined to coal-fired power plants in other parts of the country. In a three-shift workflow, the dock is now capable of shoveling 2,500 tons of coal per hour into ship hatches.

China is making all-out efforts to ensure the nation's power supply for the upcoming heating season. Suifenhe, a railway port on the China-Russia border in Northeast China's Heilongjiang province, has boosted coal imports to meet rising demand from power producers and heating suppliers in North China.

Citing the important role that coal plays in ensuring national energy security, Zhao Chenxin, secretary-general of the National Development and Reform Commission, said that coal mines with the potential to increase production in China have been promoted to release their advanced production capacities as soon as possible, and under the precondition that workplace safety is ensured.

China aims to achieve peaking carbon dioxide emissions before 2030 and carbon neutrality before 2060. According to the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, the share of coal in China's energy mix declined from 72.4 percent in 2005 to 56.8 percent in 2020.

The intensity of carbon emissions dropped 48.4 percent during the same period.

"We will make sure that the goals of peaking carbon emissions and achieving carbon neutrality are achieved as scheduled while ensuring the domestic energy supply," Zhao said.