Coal demand to remain stable amid climate concerns: IEA

Credit: Coal India Limited

As the COP 25 summit ends in disarray, all attempts to stoke up fears of a man-made ‘climate crisis’ are not going well, in some parts of the world at least. Hard to see developing countries turning away from reliable and affordable energy any time soon.

The demand for coal will remain steady over the next four years due to demand from Asia, which comes despite fears of the climate crisis, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said Tuesday.

Coastal areas across Southeast Asia have already seen major floods and seawater incursion linked to climate change, claims Phys.org.

“Global coal demand has rebounded since 2017,” the IEA said in a report.

“Although it will probably decline in 2019, we expect it to remain broadly steady thereafter through 2024,” the Paris-based agency said.

Coal is the primary source of energy used to generate electricity and accounts for more than 40 percent of energy-related CO2 emissions. It is also widely used to produce steel and cement.

Europe and the United States are becoming less reliant on coal, but its use is increasing in Asia—especially in India and China which are the world’s largest coal producers and users.

“Coal-fired power plants in Asia are young—12 years old on average. So they could still run for decades,” said IEA executive director Fatih Birol.

He said it will be necessary to have access to technologies such as carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) projects—a costly technology which captures and stores CO2 to prevent it from being released into the atmosphere.

Full article here.