Coal use to reach new peak – and remain at near-record levels for years
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Spike in fossil fuel use a result of global gas crisis triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The world’s coal use is expected to reach a fresh high of 8.7bn tonnes this year, and remain at near-record levels for years as a result of a global gas crisis triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
There has been record production and trade of coal and power generation from coal since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine inflated global gas market prices, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). The IEA said the coal rebound, after a slump during the global Covid pandemic, means consumption of the fossil fuel is now on track to rise to a new peak of 8.77bn tonnes by the end of the year – and could remain at near-record levels until 2027.
The Paris-based agency blamed power plants for the growing use of coal over the last year, particularly in China which consumes 30% more of the polluting fuel than the rest of the world put together. In developed economies such as the US and the European Union coal power generation has already passed its peak, the IEA said, and is forecast to fall by 5% and 12% respectively this year.
In the UK, coal power has been consigned to history after the last coal plant at Ratcliffe-on-Soar in Nottinghamshire generated its final megawatt in September, narrowly beating the government’s 2024 deadline. Sign up to Down to Earth. The planet's most important stories. Get all the week's environment news - the good, the bad and the essential.
