Chinese officials boasted of advances in the fight against air pollution, through a shifting energy landscape could carry a cost, a consultant group said. An air monitoring report published Monday by the Chinese government showed particulate matter, which contributes to climate change and adverse health, declined by nearly 23 percent last year when compared with 2013. The report attributed the change in part to an 8.1 percent decline in the use of coal and the 6.3 percent increase in clean energy consumption over the last five years. China’s so-called Blue Sky initiative calls for the eventual retirement of smaller coal-fired power plants. “Not surprisingly, renewable energy continues to be favored as a key enabler towards cleaner air,” […]