Coal: demand in 2023 still at record levels

Thanks to robust growth in coal consumption in Asia, global coal demand this year will remain at the record levels reached in 2022, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said in a new report released Thursday.

Last year, global coal demand rose 3.3 percent to 8.3 billion tonnes, a new record, the agency said in its Coal Market Update .
This year, coal demand will increase 0.4% from a year earlier to 8.388 billion tonnes, due to continued growth in industrial coal use which will offset a small projected decline in power generation due to coal, according to IEA estimates.

“Whether or not demand for coal grows or falls in 2023 will depend on climatic conditions and the economies of large coal-consuming countries,” the agency noted, but we are on record so far.

The EU and the US lead in declines in the use of coal in the energy sector, but Asia, especially China and India, have more than compensated for these declines.

In China, the top global coal consumer, demand rose 5.5 percent in the first half of 2023 compared to the same period last year, due to very low hydroelectric production this year, according to the IEA.

China has so far relied heavily on coal to offset the steep decline in hydroelectric power generation . At the same time, China's coal production has increased from last year and coal imports have increased, while senior officials are meeting with power companies and the state-owned grid operator to stress the importance of maintaining electricity. 'electricity during the summer, when China also hopes to see its economy recover from lower-than-expected growth in the second quarter.

The IEA expects coal demand in China to grow about 3.5% in 2023, with growth of 4.5% for the energy sector and 2% for non-energy uses. In India, the total increase in coal demand is forecast this year at 5% annually.
The growth of clean energy has structurally decreased the use of coal in Europe and the United States, said Keisuke Sadamori, IEA director for energy markets and security.

"But demand remains stubbornly high in Asia, even as many of these economies have significantly ramped up renewable energy sources."

So, dear Greta, I'm sorry, but Asia will leave you stepping on your toes for quite a while longer with its coal consumption

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The article Coal: demand in 2023 still at record levels comes from Scenari Economici .

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This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/carbone-la-domanda-nel-2023-sempre-a-livelli-record/ on Thu, 27 Jul 2023 14:24:16 +0000.