Global Coal Consumption Returns To Record Levels

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

59% : In 2022, coal comprised 26.7% of the world's primary energy consumption.
59% : But because coal is cheap, developing countries continue to rely heavily on coal as a source of power.
58% : In non-OECD countries, coal has grown at an average annual rate of 1.4%.
56% : That means that for every million BTUs of energy consumed, in 2022 coal emitted 26.7% time 220 pounds, oil emitted 31.6% times 160 pounds, and natural gas emitted 23.5% times 117 pounds.
56% : Six of the world's ten largest consumers of coal are in the Asia Pacific region.
55% : According to the Energy Information Administration (EIA), combustion of coal emits on average about 220 pounds of CO per million British thermal units (BTU) of energy.
53% : Coal contains a higher percentage of carbon than does oil or natural gas.
53% : So, when coal is combusted, it generates more carbon dioxide per unit of energy than oil or natural gas will generate.
51% : Sum it all up, and the relative cumulative contributions of these three fossil fuels to carbon dioxide emissions are coal at 43%, oil at 37%, and natural gas at 20%.
51% : Most of the countries that consume a lot of coal also produce a lot of coal, so there is a lot of overlap with the previous table.
47% : However, coal was responsible for more carbon dioxide emissions than its fossil fuel counterparts.
46% : Consumption in the European Union (EU) has shown the same downward trend as the OECD.
39% : Because of the various pollution issues associated with coal, most developed countries have moved away from coal-fired power.
38% : This was a consequence of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and EU countries replacing Russian natural gas with coal.
35% : Coal also produces a lot of other harmful emissions when burned in power plants.

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