Worldwide, efforts to combat climate change continue to intensify in the pursuit of net zero. However, as the availability and reliability of renewables continues to grow, the demand for coal remains surprisingly resilient.
Coal, a significant contributor to carbon emissions globally, continues to be relied upon thanks to rising electricity needs. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), coal demand across the world is expected to remain stable in 2024 and 2025, rather than decreasing.
The IEA’s report highlights a complex energy landscape, driven by the electricity needs of major economies like China and India, and how coal will continue to play a role.
This however comes after the IEA said investment in clean energy in 2024 is set to be twice the amount going to fossil fuels.
So, why is coal still a factor influencing the energy landscape and how does it come into play as the world navigates the road to net zero?
Net Zero by 2050 is a global framework that has encouraged businesses, governments and countries, to name a few, to announce pledges of net zero emissions in the coming decades — and the sheer number of those continues to grow.
“We are witnessing the beginning of the end of the fossil fuel era and we have to prepare ourselves for the next era,” Dr Fatih Birol, Executive Director of the IEA said off the back of another IEA study which, for the first time, forecast that demand for oil, natural gas and coal will all peak before 2030.
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