Abstract: The development of coalbed methane (CBM) helps to achieve the goal of peak carbon and carbon neutrality as early as possible, and the industrialization of CBM development has basically been achieved in China. However, restricted by theoretical and technological factors, the development scale does not match the abundant resources. Since the 14^th Five-Year Plan period, new progress has been made in CBM exploration and development, including five aspects: (1) The large-scale development of deep CBM has begun in China, and the growth rate of CBM output has significantly accelerated; (2) Major breakthrough has been made the exploration and development of deep CBM, greatly expanding the space for industrial development; (3) Remarkable results have been achieved in reservoir stimulation and reconstruction of difficult to recover resources such as low-efficiency areas and thin coal seams in mature gas fields; (4) Compared with the 13^th Five-Year Plan period, the research focus has shifted from medium-shallow to deep CBM, great innovations have been made in CBM development theory and technology represented by large-scale horizontal well multi-stage fracturing technology in four aspects of geological understanding, drilling and completion, fracturing, and drainage and production, significantly increasing the gas production; (5) The policy environment of CBM industry has continuously been optimized. The preliminary study shows that China has abundant deep CBM resources, and deep CBM resources with a burial depth of greater than 1500 m are more than twice as those with a burial depth of small than 1500 m; The proven CBM reserves in China are dominated by middle-shallow CBM, but the recovery rate is only 7%, indicating considerable remaining resources. In addition, there are abundant CBM resources in thin coal seams in the mature gas fields, which are the realistic replacement resources. Therefore, the major breakthrough of deep CBM and the successful reservoir stimulation and reconstruction in mature gas fields have become the main driving force leading the rapid development of CBM industry, which have shown promising prospects. Based on the research results by several institutions and experts, it is expected that CBM output in China will reach 100×10⁸ m³ in 2025 and 300×10⁸ m³ in 2035. On the other hand, CBM development in China is faced with many challenges. For example, the geological theory and understanding in the new fields of deep CBM and thin coal seams need to be deeply and systematically studied, exploration and development engineering technology for deep CBM is still in the research stage, and the policy support for industrial development still needs improvement. Therefore, it is suggested to strengthen risk CBM exploration and favorable zone selection and evaluation in new fields, strengthen theoretical and technical research on high-efficiency CBM exploration and development, and strengthen policy support and development guidance for CBM industry.