Coal energy plant. INQUIRER STOCK PHOTO
Paris, France — World coal use is about to succeed in an all-time excessive in 2024, the Worldwide Vitality Company stated Wednesday, in a yr all however sure to be the most well liked in recorded historical past.
Regardless of calls to halt humanity’s burning of the filthiest fossil gas driving local weather change, the vitality watchdog expects international demand for coal to hit file highs for the third yr in a row.
Scientists have warned that planet-warming greenhouse gases should be drastically slashed to restrict international heating to keep away from catastrophic impacts on the Earth and humanity.
READ: Philippines’ dependency on coal not low-cost—energy exec
Earlier in December, the European Union’s local weather monitor Copernicus stated 2024 was “successfully sure” to be the most well liked on file — eclipsing the file set simply final yr.
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Printed on Wednesday, the IEA’s “Coal 2024” report does nonetheless predict the world will hit peak coal in 2027 after topping 8.77 billion tonnes this yr.
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However that might be depending on China, which for the previous quarter-century has consumed 30 % extra coal than the remainder of the world’s international locations mixed, the IEA stated.
China’s waxing demand for electrical energy was probably the most vital driving drive behind the rise, with greater than a 3rd of coal burnt worldwide carbonised within the nation’s energy vegetation.
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Although Beijing has sought to diversify its electrical energy sources, together with a large growth of photo voltaic and wind energy, the IEA stated Chinese language coal demand in 2024 will nonetheless hit 4.9 billion tonnes — itself one other file.
Rising coal demand in China, in addition to in rising economies resembling India and Indonesia, made up for a continued decline in superior economies.
Nonetheless that decline has slowed within the European Union and the USA. Coal use there’s set to say no by 12 and 5 % respectively, in contrast with 23 and 17 % in 2023.
With the approaching return to the White Home of Donald Trump — who has repeatedly known as local weather change a “hoax” — many scientists worry {that a} second Trump presidency would water down the local weather commitments of the world’s largest financial system.
Coal mining additionally hit unprecedented ranges by topping 9 billion tonnes in output for the primary time, the IEA stated, with high producers China, India and Indonesia all posting new manufacturing data.
The vitality watchdog warned that the explosion in power-hungry knowledge centres powering the emergence of synthetic intelligence was likewise more likely to drive demand for energy era up, with that pattern underpinning electrical energy demand in coal-guzzling China.
The 2024 report reverses the IEA’s prediction final yr that coal use would start declining after peaking in 2023.
On the annual UN local weather change discussion board in Dubai final yr, nations vowed to transition away from fossil fuels.
However its follow-up this yr led to acrimony, with specialists warning that the failure to double down on that landmark pledge at COP29 in Azerbaijan risked jeopardising efforts to combat local weather change.
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Arrange within the wake of the 1973 oil disaster, the IEA kinds itself as “the world’s main vitality authority”.
