A new record is expected in 2022 in coal consumption, according to the IEA

Global consumption of coal, the main source of CO2 emissions, is expected to hit a new record in 2022, driven in particular by increased, albeit temporary, demand from Europe, says the International Energy Agency (IEA) in a report released Friday.

This global consumption is expected to grow by 1.2% compared to last year, to exceed 8,000 million tons, beating a record from 2013, according to the annual report on coal prepared by the institution.

This global demand should then remain at approximately this level until 2025, “in the absence of additional efforts to accelerate the energy transition,” estimates the IEA, which forecasts a drop in advanced economies but demand that is always “robust” in Asia. Consequence for the climate: Coal, the most damaging energy of all, will immediately remain by far the largest source of CO2 in the global energy system.

Increase in global emissions

“The world is nearing a peak in the use of fossil fuels, led by the expected decline in coal, but we are not there yet,” said Keisuke Sadamori, director of energy markets and security at the IEA: “Demand for coal is holding — and likely to hit an all-time high this year, driving up global emissions.”

In a context of energy crisis, the demand for coal, to produce electricity, benefited this year in particular from the increase in the price of gas, although the economic slowdown reduced the demand for electricity.

In China (53% of world consumption), demand has suffered, on the one hand, from the confinements linked to Covid, but the drought and heat waves have also triggered the need for air conditioning and reduced the possible use of hydroelectricity. Europe, faced with falling gas deliveries from Russia, should for its part see its coal consumption increase in 2022 for the second year in a row.

Coal prices, however, rose to record levels in March and then in June, on the back of gas prices but also production difficulties in Australia, a key supplier. But the world’s top three producers, China, India and Indonesia, have all broken their production records this year.

A flash in this panorama, the report does not see any movement of investments in favor of projects destined for export. “This reflects the caution of investors and mining companies about the prospects of coal in the medium and long term,” said the agency, created in 1974 by the OECD to advise states on their energy policy.