China: legacy collieries versus renewable energy

Abstract

Abstract The findings of the major strategic consulting project of Chinese Academy of Engineering ‘Research on the strategy of coal mine safety and abandoned mine resources development and utilization in China’ suggest that almost 13,000 discarded collieries in China will provide abundant surface lands and massive underground heritages to not only develop but also store renewable energy within the Earth’s Critical Zone, thus helping attain its net-zero energy goal.