China has announced it will "in principle" block any new proposed coal mines until at least 2019, while output at existing operations will continue to be cut during 2016.
The move, which according to state media will see the world's largest consumer of coal close over 1,000 existing mines this year alone, is in response to faltering demand for coal, low prices, and increasing public concern over the country's air pollution crisis.
Air pollution has soared up the political agenda in China in recent years, with the country issuing its two first red smog alerts in December last year, closing schools and halting outdoor construction work.
One study released last year linked air pollution to 1.6 million deaths in China each year, equal to almost 4,500 per day.
According to state-run news agency Xinhua News, China now intends to source 13.2 per cent of its energy from non-fossil fuel sources, compared with around 12 per cent in 2015, cranking up further pressure on the country's coal industry.
In related news, the Indian city of Delhi has embarked upon a two week driving ban that authorities hope will take more than a million cars off the roads in the world's most polluted city.
According to Guardian reports, the scheme from the north-Indian economic powerhouse will allow only alternate-day travel during the daytime for private cars with odd- and even-numbered licence plates.
The move is the latest in a series of attempts by leading cities to curtail traffic in a bid to tackle chronic levels of air pollution.
However, critics say the ban falls well short of what is needed considering it only applies to passenger cars, which account for just 10 per cent of Delhi's air pollution.
Arvind Kejriwa, Delhi's state chief minister, defended the scheme, saying it is only the first step in efforts to improve the city's air quality. "We'll have to undertake even sterner measures in the future to safeguard our health, and especially our children's future," he was quoted as saying. "It has to become a movement."
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