North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region will take measures to reduce its reliance on coal consumption and accelerate major renewable energy projects to lower the region’s energy consumption per unit of GDP by 15 percent by 2025 from five years ago, according to guidelines issued by the regional government on Monday.

According to an action plan for energy conservation and emission reduction during the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25), the region will lower the coal consumption to below 75 percent, and increase non-fossil energy consumption to about 18 percent of its total energy consumption by 2025.

Local authorities have stressed the need to strengthen monitoring of major coal-consuming industries such as iron and steel making, while speeding up renewable energy transition and upgrading 20 million kilowatts of coal-fired power generating units before 2025.

Meanwhile the region will cut the emission of chemical oxygen, ammonia nitrogen, nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds by 8 percent from five years ago.

Inner Mongolia is rich in coal resource, recording 1.001 billion tons of coal output in 2020, according to official data, ranking second after North China's Shanxi Province, which is the country's largest coal production base. Coal output of the two provinces combined accounted for 53.7 percent of China's total coal production in 2020.

With the measures targeting energy conservation and emissions reductions, Inner Mongolia plans to increase energy utilization efficiency, control pollutant emissions and reach domestic advanced level of energy efficiency, as it strives to transform its economy from a resource-dependent economic development model to innovation-driven.

The agenda is in line with the nation’s pledge to advance carbon emissions peaking and carbon neutrality initiatives, while ensuring energy security.

According to a package of measures to stabilize economic performance issued by the State Council in May, coal will be produced while ensuring safety, environment-friendliness and efficient utilization. A number of new hydropower and coal-fired power projects will start this year.