Analysts said that while China's efforts to shift from the heavy-polluting coal energy to cleaner sources of fuel and power are laudable, at least US $21 billion worth of investments in coal stands at risk of being stranded, a recent research report estimated.

Last year, Chinese coal companies invested around US $21 billion to explore and develop coal sources even with the government pronouncement that China will be shifting to the use of more natural gas, renewable energies and nuclear power to generate electricity.

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This means, the Carbon Tracker Initiative and the Association of for Sustainable and Responsible Investment in Asia said, around the same amount will be affected and assets worth billions stand at risk of being unprofitable.

"The drop in the demand for thermal coal will leave those coal investors bearing the brunt of non-performing assets and wasted investments," the report by the two think-tanks said.

The investors, however, could be blamed for their fate because there were those who were not actively assessing their Chinese coal holdings even with the announcement by the central government, said the report.

China has heavily relied on coal over the past three decades and has been burning half of the world's coal consumption each year. But heavy pollution and the growing concerns on climate change have triggered Beijing to consider cleaner sources of energy, the report added.

While China remains reliant on coal, the International Energy Agency said installed coal capacity of around 450 gigawatts stands to be at risk in 2020, the time when the country is expected to utilize cleaner energy sources. The figure represents 40 percent of the expected total installed coal capacity by that year.

Aside from impacting local coal producers, China's expected coal consumption drop will also heavily impact coal producers around the world because China is the world's biggest coal importer, said the report.

TagsChina coal, china coal energy, China coal industry