China recorded its biggest increase in total energy consumption and coal use in a decade in 2021, as the economy recovered from COVID-19 slowdown a year earlier, data from the country's statistics bureau showed on Monday.

China, the world's biggest coal burner and greenhouse gas emitter, used 5.24 billion tonnes of standard coal equivalent of energy last year, up 5.2% from 2020, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said.

The rate of growth was the highest since 2011, according to Reuters records based on official data.

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