Climate Change Fun Fact: China consumes nearly as much coal as the rest of the world combined

This data is over two years old so, despite the slowdown in China's rate of economic growth, sometime later this year China will burn as much coal as the rest of the world combined.
 From the EIA, January 2013:

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, International Energy Statistics.

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Coal consumption in China grew more than 9% in 2011, continuing its upward trend for the 12th consecutive year, according to newly released international data. China's coal use grew by 325 million tons in 2011, accounting for 87% of the 374 million ton global increase in coal use. Of the 2.9 billion tons of global coal demand growth since 2000, China accounted for 2.3 billion tons (82%). China now accounts for 47% of global coal consumption—almost as much as the entire rest of the world combined.

Robust coal demand growth in China is the result of a more than 200% increase in Chinese electric generation since 2000, fueled primarily by coal. China's coal demand growth averaged 9% per year from 2000 to 2010, more than double the global growth rate of 4% and significantly higher than global growth excluding China, which averaged only 1%.