- Global coal demand has surged to another record high this year, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on December 18, expecting the world’s coal consumption to level off through 2027.
- Over the next three years, global coal consumption will remain close to the 2024 record-high levels, said the agency, which advocates strongly for an acceleration of the energy transition.
Global coal demand has surged to another record high this year, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on December 18, expecting the world’s coal consumption to level off through 2027.
The year 2024 saw another all-time high consumption of coal globally, beating the previous record set last year, the IEA said in its Coal 2024 report with analysis and forecast to 2027.
Last year, coal demand grew by 2.6 per cent to hit an all-time high, the IEA said in a July overview of the coal markets. Back then, the agency expected coal demand for 2024 to remain broadly flat compared to 2023.
This year, coal demand is on track to increase by 1 per cent from 2023 to 8.77 billion tons, a record high, the IEA said today.
While coal demand continues to decline in the EU and the U.S. – although at slower paces than in 2023, China and India are set to see in 2024 another year of record-high coal consumption. China is on track for a 1 per cent rise to 4.9 billion tons, and India’s coal demand is poised to increase by more than 5 per cent to 1.3 billion tons—a level that only China has reached previously.
Over the next three years, global coal consumption will remain close to the 2024 record-high levels, said the agency, which advocates strongly for an acceleration of the energy transition.
The IEA projects, and hopes, that coal demand will plateau through 2027 even as global electricity consumption spikes, thanks to rising renewable energy capacity additions.
A plateau in global coal demand will largely depend on China, the agency noted.
“Weather factors – particularly in China, the world’s largest coal consumer – will have a major impact on short-term trends for coal demand. The speed at which electricity demand grows will also be very important over the medium term,” said IEA Director of Energy Markets and Security Keisuke Sadamori.
Although the share of coal in China’s electricity generation has been declining in recent years with the renewables boom, Chinese coal power generation and demand remains strong. Coal still accounts for about 60 per cent of China’s power generation, despite a surge in hydropower earlier this year after abundant rainfall.