Coal is the most carbon-intensive fuel with regard to emissions, which makes it the top replacement priority as the world transitions to the use of renewable sources of energy. The burning of fossil fuels such as coal, gas and oil are said to be the primary drivers of the climate crisis.
A new report by Urgewald highlights that almost one-half of the coal industry plans to develop new projects, with other companies refraining from retiring assets even as extreme weather events become more frequent and worse globally. In the past few months, China has recorded its most severe heat wave ever, Europe has experienced its hottest summer in centuries and never-seen-before floods have afflicted about a one-third of Pakistan.
Urgewald is a not-for-profit human rights and environmental organization based in Germany. Its annual report was prepared in collaboration with 40 partner NGOs. The research represents the most comprehensive public database on the coal industry globally. The report stated that, of the parties surveyed, less than 3% had announced timely coal exit dates.
Urgewald’s report reveals that there are more than 6,500 coal plant units around the globe, with a combined capacity of 2066 GW. It observes that whether humanity will succeed in keeping global heating from exceeding the crucial temperature threshold of 1.5o C is dependent on how quickly we can phase out the coal fleet. This temperature goal, which was the limit set in the 2015 Paris Agreement, is recognized as the critical international target.
Under the road map released by the International Energy Agency, the richest nations in the world must all retire their coal power plants by 2030 and the rest of the world by 2040 in order to achieve net zero by 2050.
The report also found that of the more than 1,000 companies on Urgewald’s Global Coal Exist List, 490 were pursuing new coal mines, power plants or transport infrastructure. This means that more than 45% of the companies surveyed are focused on expanding, despite the 2021 UN Climate summit held in Glasgow, which ended with an international agreement to speed up efforts toward the phase down of coal.
Urgewald director Heffa Schuecking stated that pursuing new projects involving coal in the middle of a climate emergency was irresponsible and reckless behavior, noting that insurers, banks and investors needed to ban these developers from their portfolios with immediate effect.
This news comes as some European governments revert back to the use of coal in an effort to hinder a winter supply shortage amid a significant decline in gas supply from Moscow. Russia has halted gas supplies as part of an energy stand-off provoked by its war in Ukraine. In response, coal extraction companies such as Arch Resources Inc. (NYSE: ARCH) have had to step up their production in order to meet the skyrocketing demand for coal to bridge the shortage left by the reduction in natural gas from Russia.
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