RECORD CHINESE DEMAND
Although Beijing has sought to diversify its electrical energy sources, together with an enormous enlargement of photo voltaic and wind energy, the IEA stated Chinese language coal demand in 2024 will nonetheless hit 4.9 billion tonnes – itself one other file.
Growing coal demand in China, in addition to in rising economies comparable to India and Indonesia, made up for a continued decline in superior economies.
Nevertheless that decline has slowed within the European Union and the US. Coal use there may be set to say no by 12 per cent and 5 per cent respectively, in contrast with 23 per cent and 17 per cent in 2023.
With the approaching return to the White Home of Donald Trump – who has repeatedly known as local weather change a “hoax” – many scientists worry {that a} second Trump presidency would water down the local weather commitments of the world’s largest economic system.
Coal mining additionally hit unprecedented ranges by topping 9 billion tonnes in output for the primary time, the IEA stated, with prime producers China, India and Indonesia all posting new manufacturing information.
The vitality watchdog warned that the explosion in power-hungry knowledge centres powering the emergence of synthetic intelligence was likewise more likely to drive demand for energy era up, with that pattern underpinning electrical energy demand in coal-guzzling China.
The 2024 report reverses the IEA’s prediction final yr that coal use would start declining after peaking in 2023.
On the annual UN local weather change discussion board in Dubai final yr, nations vowed to transition away from fossil fuels.
However its follow-up this yr resulted in acrimony, with consultants warning that the failure to double down on that landmark pledge at COP29 in Azerbaijan risked jeopardising efforts to struggle local weather change.
Arrange within the wake of the 1973 oil disaster, the IEA types itself as “the world’s main vitality authority”.
