The Stone Age didn’t end for lack of stones. And the Coal Age hasn’t ended for lack of coal.Despite pledges to reduce the world’s reliance on fossil fuels — especially coal — global consumption of solid carbon continues to climb to all-time highs, according to the Energy Institute’s annual Statistical Review of World Energy.Not only are developing countries producing and burning more at a furious pace, India’s coal consumption exceeded North America and Europe’s for the first time in the 74 years the London-based group has been keeping track.Despite pledges at the COP28 climate summit in Dubai last winter to reduce reliance on fossil fuels, Indian coal consumption was up almost 10% in 2023 to 21.9 exajoules (EJ) compared to 17.22 EJ for all of Europe, Canada, the US and Mexico combined..Led by the US, North American coal consumption was down about 16% in 2023 — but just 3.7% in Canada — while Europe declined by a similar amount.China remains by far the world’s biggest coal consumer, burning 56% of all the coal produced on the planet, but its rate of growth in absolute terms has slowed to about 4.7%. Likewise, China produced about half of all the coal on the planet even as it imported imported about twice as much coal as India.And despite significant decreases in both consumption and production of coal in most parts of the world, global coal production hit an all-time record last year of 179 EJ, beating the previous high set the year before..The Asia Pacific region accounted for nearly 80% of global output with activity concentrated in just four countries: Australia, China, India, and Indonesia. And despite a prevailing view among Western governments that demand for fossil fuels — including oil, coal and natural gas — the Energy Institute says it is expecting “significant” increases in the future from developing countries even as it falls off in developed countries.“It is estimated that globally around 750 million people — 1 out of 10 — do not have access to electricity to light their homes, refrigerate their food, or keep cool in rising temperatures and around 2.6 billion people rely on heavily polluting biomass fuels such as charcoal, coal, and animal waste for heating and cooking,” it said.“Whilst collectively Africa and South Asia were responsible for less than 10% of the world’s energy demand in 2023, a prevalence of developing economies, large populations, low rate of access to energy today, potentially positions them for significant energy demand growth in the future.”
The Stone Age didn’t end for lack of stones. And the Coal Age hasn’t ended for lack of coal.Despite pledges to reduce the world’s reliance on fossil fuels — especially coal — global consumption of solid carbon continues to climb to all-time highs, according to the Energy Institute’s annual Statistical Review of World Energy.Not only are developing countries producing and burning more at a furious pace, India’s coal consumption exceeded North America and Europe’s for the first time in the 74 years the London-based group has been keeping track.Despite pledges at the COP28 climate summit in Dubai last winter to reduce reliance on fossil fuels, Indian coal consumption was up almost 10% in 2023 to 21.9 exajoules (EJ) compared to 17.22 EJ for all of Europe, Canada, the US and Mexico combined..Led by the US, North American coal consumption was down about 16% in 2023 — but just 3.7% in Canada — while Europe declined by a similar amount.China remains by far the world’s biggest coal consumer, burning 56% of all the coal produced on the planet, but its rate of growth in absolute terms has slowed to about 4.7%. Likewise, China produced about half of all the coal on the planet even as it imported imported about twice as much coal as India.And despite significant decreases in both consumption and production of coal in most parts of the world, global coal production hit an all-time record last year of 179 EJ, beating the previous high set the year before..The Asia Pacific region accounted for nearly 80% of global output with activity concentrated in just four countries: Australia, China, India, and Indonesia. And despite a prevailing view among Western governments that demand for fossil fuels — including oil, coal and natural gas — the Energy Institute says it is expecting “significant” increases in the future from developing countries even as it falls off in developed countries.“It is estimated that globally around 750 million people — 1 out of 10 — do not have access to electricity to light their homes, refrigerate their food, or keep cool in rising temperatures and around 2.6 billion people rely on heavily polluting biomass fuels such as charcoal, coal, and animal waste for heating and cooking,” it said.“Whilst collectively Africa and South Asia were responsible for less than 10% of the world’s energy demand in 2023, a prevalence of developing economies, large populations, low rate of access to energy today, potentially positions them for significant energy demand growth in the future.”
