BEIJING - China will boost the development of geothermal power in the next five years to reduce coal consumption and improve air quality, an energy official said on Thursday.

In particular, China will promote the use of geothermal power in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region to replace coal for heating to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and improve air quality, Li Yangzhe, deputy director of the National Energy Administration, told an international forum on geothermal power.

Li said China will provide policy support to boost geothermal power exploitation and consumption during the 2016-2020 period.

China is expected to more than triple its geothermal power consumption by 2020 to 72.1 million tonnes of coal equivalent from the current level.

China consumed about 20 million tonnes of coal equivalent of geothermal resources for heating, power generation and other uses in 2015, official data showed.

By 2020, geothermal power will likely account for about 1.5 percent of the country's total energy consumption, helping to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 177 million tonnes.