Coal is the dominant energy source in China，and plays an important role in China’s socio-economic development and national energy security for a long time. Meanwhile，the large-scale and extensive coal utilization has posed a growing challenge for protecting the environment and countering climate change. Coal combustion is the major source of China’s energy-related CO₂ emissions，and the fundamental position of coal in the national primary energy mix will be long-term. Thereafter，the strategies for CO₂ emission reduction in China rely highly on high-efficiency，clean，and low-carbon utilization of coal. This paper aims to introduce the importance of clean and efficient coal utilization，analyze the current state and engineering progress of China’s coal utilization，and further illustrate the relationship between the clean and high-efficiency coal utilization and China’s strategies for CO₂ emission reduction. Corresponding capacity building and comprehensive countermeasures for the clean and high-efficiency utilization of coal are addressed.