Global Coal Use , Set to Reach , Record High in 2022.
ABC News reports that on December 16, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said that coal use across the world
is on track to reach a new record in 2022. .
The news comes amid consistently
high demand for the fossil fuel. .
According to the Paris-based agency, while
coal use only grew by 1.2% in 2022, the increase
pushed utilization of the fossil fuel to an all-time high.
8 billion metric tons of coal, were burned in 2022, beating
the previous record set in 2013.
The world’s coal consumption will remain
at similar levels in the following years
in the absence of stronger efforts to
accelerate the transition to clean energy, International Energy Agency, via ABC News.
According to the agency, high demand
in emerging Asian economies is likely to
offset any decline in use by mature markets. .
This means coal will continue to be
the global energy system’s largest single
source of carbon dioxide emissions by far, International Energy Agency, via ABC News.
According to the IEA, higher prices
for natural gas have driven the increased
reliance on coal for generating power.
The world is close to a peak in fossil fuel use,
with coal set to be the first to decline,
but we are not there yet, Keisuke Sadamori, International Energy Agency's
director of energy markets and security, via ABC News.
China, the world's biggest consumer of coal, said recently
that it plans to boost coal use through 2025 in order to
avoid a repeat of widespread power shortages that occurred in 2021.