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COAL USE TO REACH NEW PEAK – AND REMAIN AT NEAR-RECORD LEVELS FOR
YEARS  
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Jillian Ambrose
December 18, 2024
The Guardian
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_ Spike in fossil fuel use a result of global gas crisis triggered by
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine _

, Photograph: Wolfgang Rattay/Reuters

 

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
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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  [[link removed]]over the last
year, particularly in China which consumes 30% more of the polluting
fuel
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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
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the last coal plant at Ratcliffe-on-Soar in Nottinghamshire
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its final megawatt in September, narrowly beating the government’s
2024 deadline.

Coal demand in China is expected to grow by 1% in 2024 to reach 4.9bn
tonnes, which is another record, according to the IEA. India is
expected to see demand grow by more than 5% to 1.3bn tonnes, a level
previously reached only by China.

The IEA said that the forecast boom in renewable energy over the
coming years is expected to keep a cap on coal use for the next three
years, even as demand for electricity is expected to surge in
developing countries, before demand for the fossil fuel begins to fall
by the end of the decade, the report said.

Keisuke Sadamori, the IEA’s director of energy markets and security,
said: “The rapid deployment of clean energy technologies is
reshaping the global electricity sector, which accounts for two-thirds
of the world’s coal use. As a result, our models show global demand
for coal plateauing through 2027 even as electricity consumption rises
sharply.”

“However, weather factors – particularly in China, the world’s
largest coal consumer – will have a major impact on short-term
trends for coal demand. The speed at which electricity demand grows
will also be very important over the medium term,” he added.

_Jillian Ambrose is the Guardian's energy correspondent_

* Climate Change
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* Fossil Fuel
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* coal
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* Records
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* Ukraine invasion
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