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ST. LOUIS, June 27, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Peabody Energy Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Gregory H. Boyce today praised China's leadership for taking steps to accelerate the use of emissions control technologies across the nation's expanding industrial sector while increasing the coal use that has fueled the nation's stunning economic development.  

China's State Council recently announced new measures to address urban air quality through rapid upgrades to pollution controls and more stringent enforcement actions, while continuing to use more coal for electricity generation, conversion to other fuels and chemicals, and steel production.  China is the world's largest coal consumer and has led major economies with unprecedented economic growth in recent decades.

"I commend China's cabinet for increasing the intensity of efforts to deploy modern emissions control technologies," said Boyce following a keynote address in Canberra to Australian government and business leaders on the role of 21st Century coal.  "The approach announced by China's leaders has proven successful in the United States in the past, allowing substantial improvement in emissions from coal-fueled generation in recent decades.  It addresses air quality challenges – while increasing coal use to fuel economic growth – through greater investment in and use of technology that is widely available."

The Chinese government's measures are consistent with energy policy recommendations made by Peabody at the 2013 China Development Forum (CDF) Economic Summit in Beijing.  Invited to present economic development ideas to Chinese leaders at the forum, Boyce advanced the following three recommendations:

• China should continue to assert its right to drive economic and social development and the betterment of the lives of its people though the use of the country's abundant coal resources.
• China should follow the model proven in the United States for solving urban air quality challenges, by increasing the intensity of efforts to deploy modern emissions control technology.
• China should adopt the principles of 21st Century coal by implementing the highest standards for worker safety, resource recovery, land restoration and water use in its mining sector.

Peabody Energy is the world's largest private-sector coal company and a global leader in sustainable mining and clean coal solutions. The company serves metallurgical and thermal coal customers in more than 25 countries on six continents. For further information, go to PeabodyEnergy.com and CoalCanDoThat.com.

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SOURCE Peabody Energy