RECORD CHINESE DEMAND
Though Beijing has sought to diversify its electricity sources, including a massive expansion of solar and wind power, the IEA said Chinese coal demand in 2024 will still hit 4.9 billion tonnes – itself another record.
Increasing coal demand in China, as well as in emerging economies such as India and Indonesia, made up for a continued decline in advanced economies.
However that decline has slowed in the European Union and the United States. Coal use there is set to decline by 12 per cent and 5 per cent respectively, compared with 23 per cent and 17 per cent in 2023.
With the imminent return to the White House of Donald Trump – who has repeatedly called climate change a “hoax” – many scientists fear that a second Trump presidency would water down the climate commitments of the world’s largest economy.
Coal mining also hit unprecedented levels by topping nine billion tonnes in output for the first time, the IEA said, with top producers China, India and Indonesia all posting new production records.
The energy watchdog warned that the explosion in power-hungry data centres powering the emergence of artificial intelligence was likewise likely to drive demand for power generation up, with that trend underpinning electricity demand in coal-guzzling China.
The 2024 report reverses the IEA’s prediction last year that coal use would begin declining after peaking in 2023.
At the annual UN climate change forum in Dubai last year, nations vowed to transition away from fossil fuels.
But its follow-up this year ended in acrimony, with experts warning that the failure to double down on that landmark pledge at COP29 in Azerbaijan risked jeopardising efforts to fight climate change.
Set up in the wake of the 1973 oil crisis, the IEA styles itself as “the world’s leading energy authority”.
