Bloomberg: coal-fired generation survives and strikes back at the environment

Coal-fired power generation has been on the rise over the past two years as China and India struggled with electricity shortages and Europe tried to replace Russian natural gas. Against this background, the production of fossil fuels, considered the dirtiest, as well as its exports by producing countries, in particular Russia, are growing. Bloomberg writes about the real renaissance of the coal industry.

Coal use will peak next year as the future of both the industry and the entire energy sector is determined by India and China, who are very heavily using fossil fuels from Russia and are in no hurry to switch to renewable energy sources.



Survival factors for a seemingly obsolete industry include higher-than-expected demand for electricity, social backlash against the loss of mining jobs and lobbying by mill owners, and the firm position of Beijing and New Delhi to in an effort to develop at any cost.

Moreover, Bloomberg predicts that the use of coal will continue until the middle of this century, even under conditions of strict policy zero emissions, when demand in the energy sector will fall by about 70% from the 2024 peak. The indicator of consumption of stone raw materials will increase to 1,5 billion tons per year. Of course, plants equipped with carbon capture systems will be required to contain emissions, which will require huge investments in technology, which has struggled to prove it can work on a commercial scale.

Coal production has outperformed demand over the past two years as leading mining companies in China and India ramped up output to help deal with power shortages. This led to an increase in stocks at the end of 2022, especially in China.

Many countries of the world, not only China or India, are rapidly stocking up on coal as liquid fuel, for which all existing infrastructure is ready. In the event of a shortage, this approach will help to eliminate some of the crisis or compensate for the lack of more expensive gas for generation in the winter.

A Western analytical agency comes to an unequivocal conclusion: coal has not only survived the confrontation with the environmental agenda, but is even delivering a decisive blow back to global plans to expand renewable energy. In addition, this situation will lead to an increase in the income of some suppliers, such as Russia, which the West is trying to prevent in every possible way.