New coal capacity hits 20-year lows in 2024: Report
Sara Hussein
Bangkok (AFP) April 3, 2025
The world has added the smallest new coal capacity in the past two decades last year, but fossil fuel use is still soaring in China and India, a report said Thursday.
Coal accounts for more than one-third of global electricity production, and defining coal is crucial to achieving climate change goals.
According to reports from a group of energy and environment research organizations and non-governmental organizations, only 44 gigawatts (GW) were produced worldwide last year, the lowest number since 2004.
“Last year was a harbinger of coal as the clean energy transition will be moving forward at full speed,” said Christine Shearer of Global Energy Monitor.
However, new capacity still exceeds the shutdown of coal, which means a net increase in the global coal fleet.
Last year, China began building a record-breaking coal-fired power plant.
The report warned that record new coal proposals were also seen in India last year.
“Works are still needed to ensure coal power that is consistent with the Paris climate agreement, especially in the world’s wealthiest countries,” Shearer said.
– “Suspicious” coal technology –
The International Energy Agency (IEA) said global coal demand will start from 2024 to 2027, and the growth of emerging economies has largely deviated from reality under the use of developed countries.
According to the IEA, China’s power sector accounts for one-third of all coal consumption worldwide, a transition from fuel keys to global trends.
The report said that despite coal construction’s highest record in China last year, the country’s new permits were withdrawn from breakthrough levels two years ago.
In Southeast Asia, coal powers emerging economies such as Indonesia, and new proposals for fossil fuels have declined.
The report said it was the result of various transactions and commitments from Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam to gradually use coal.
But among wealthy economies, Japan and South Korea have been selected for promoting “suspicious “decarbonized” coal technology” at home and abroad.
The report warns that these technologies are “expensive and unlikely to provide the deep emission reductions required for climate stability”.
Among them, it is mainly about cooperating with ammonia on coal-powered plants. Replacing ammonia with some coal used in plants can reduce emissions, but the amount of ammonia is emitted depends on how it is produced.
Even co-development with low-emission ammonia still produces more carbon dioxide than many other power generation technologies, the report warns.
The groups also marked uncertainty about the U.S. commitment to coal after Donald Trump returned to the president.
But they pointed out that coal-fired power plants closed during Trump’s first term were shuttered than those of his predecessor Barack Obama or successor Joe Biden.
“Trump’s first term shows that it’s hard to offset the economic viability of U.S. coal power, coupled with the age of coal-fired power plants in the country,” the report said.
Related links
