By Ryan Woo

May 29, 2017 - Authorities in Shanxi, one of China’s biggest coal-producing regions, have vowed to suspend or slow the construction of 120 million tonnes of coal production capacity from 2016 to 2020, the official Xinhua agency reported on Sunday.

The northern province will also suspend the construction of more coal mines over the period to further reduce capacity, Xinhua reported, citing a recent coal industry development plan published by the local government.

As of the end of 2015, Shanxi had or was constructing 1,078 coal mines with a total production capacity of 1.46 billion tonnes per year.

Beijing has vowed to lower coal production over the next few years to reduce an annual capacity surplus amounting to more than 2 billion tonnes.

The pledges are also part of China’s years-long push to reduce the share of coal in its energy mix to cut pollution that has choked its northern cities.

Shanxi, with a quarter of China’s known coal reserves, aims to limit the number of its mines to 900 by 2020, with an average capacity of 1.8 million tonnes annually, according to earlier reports.

Earlier this month, the province said it will shut 18 collieries and cut 17 million tonnes of coal capacity this year.

China’s government has said it aims to close 800 million tonnes of outdated coal capacity by 2020.