Coal consumption in Hebei province, one of the country's major regions for coal production and consumption, was reduced by 8.55 million metric tons last year, according to a report by local authorities.

Cutting the use of coal is one of the province's key measures to promote environmental conservation.

In 2015, the consumption of coal in Hebei reached 290 million tons, accounting for 86.6 percent of the province's total primary energy consumption, according to a development plan for the province's coal industry.

The plan, released in 2017, projected that coal consumption in Hebei would be cut to 270 million tons this year.

Total coal consumption was reduced from 390 million tons in 2013 to 300 million tons in 2018 in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, according to a report by chinanews.com.