China is the largest coal producer. The environmental impacts caused by its vast production deserve attention. Previous site-generic life cycle assessment (LCA) studies focused on single or several coal mines, ignoring spatial heterogeneity of environmental impacts and hardly providing industry-level suggestions. Here, we propose a technical framework for regionalized LCA and evaluate provincial-level environmental impacts per tonne of coal in China. It reveals significant variations in climate change and particulate matter formation potential (PMFP), with water scarcity potential (WSP) showing the highest spatial disparities, and also demonstrates the significance of this work. Key processes dominating environmental impacts and underlying factors driving these variations are identified. Furthermore, the total PMFP and WSP of provincial-level coal production since 2002 are estimated, showing a growing trend in spatial variation. This study provides valuable insights to enhance the environmental performance of China's coal industry and serves as a methodological reference for regionalized LCA research.
