The International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Friday that rising coal use in China, India, and the United States might push global coal-fired power demand to an all-time high this year. IEA predicted that global coal power generation will reach 10,350 terawatt-hours in 2021, an increase of 9 percent from the previous year, driven by a quick economic rebound that has “pushed up energy demand considerably faster than low-carbon supply can keep up with demand.”The demand for coal in general, particularly for industries like cement and steel, is predicted to expand by 6 percent this year, according to forecasts. Despite the fact that it will not surpass the record consumption levels of 2013 and 2014, the International Energy Agency (IEA) predicts that it will reach a new all-time high next year.
According to the International Energy Agency, China is responsible for more than half of worldwide coal-fired power generation, which is predicted to grow by 9 percent year on year by 2021. This year, it is expected that India’s generation will expand by 12 percent. Countries eventually agreed to “scale down” their coal consumption as part of their efforts to keep the global temperature rising as near to 1.5 degrees Celsius as feasible at climate talks in Glasgow last month, resolving a significant source of dispute at the discussions.
In fact, China has already stated that it will begin lowering coal usage after 2025, providing developers substantial latitude to increase generation capacity in the next four years if they choose to do so. Energy security concerns, according to a report published this week by researchers with China’s State Grid Corporation, will lead the country to add as much as 150 gigatonnes (GW) of new coal-fired power capacity over the period 2021-2025, bringing the total amount of coal-fired power capacity in the country to 1,230 GW.
