PARIS, Dec 18, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - World coal use is set to reach an all-time
high in 2024, the International Energy Agency said Wednesday, in a year all
but certain to be the hottest in recorded history.

Despite calls to halt humanity's burning of the filthiest fossil fuel driving
climate change, the energy watchdog expects global demand for coal to hit
record highs for the third year in a row.

Scientists have warned that planet-warming greenhouse gases will have to be
drastically slashed to limit global heating to avoid catastrophic impacts on
the Earth and humanity.

Earlier in December, the European Union's climate monitor Copernicus said
2024 was "effectively certain" to be the hottest on record -- eclipsing the
record set just last year.

Published on Wednesday, the IEA's "Coal 2024" report does however predict the
world will hit peak coal in 2027 after topping 8.77 billion tonnes this year.

But that would be dependent on China, which for the past quarter-century has
consumed 30 percent more coal than the rest of the world's countries
combined, the IEA said.

China's waxing demand for electricity was the most significant driving force
behind the increase, with more than a third of coal burnt worldwide
carbonised in the country's power plants.

- Record Chinese demand -

Though Beijing has sought to diversify its electricity sources, including a
massive expansion of solar and wind power, the IEA said Chinese coal demand
in 2024 will still hit 4.9 billion tonnes -- itself another record.

Increasing coal demand in China, as well as in emerging economies such as
India and Indonesia, made up for a continued decline in advanced economies.

However that decline has slowed in the European Union and the United States.
Coal use there is set to decline by 12 and five percent respectively,
compared with 23 and 17 percent in 2023.

With the imminent return to the White House of Donald Trump -- who has
repeatedly called climate change a "hoax" -- many scientists fear that a
second Trump presidency would water down the climate commitments of the
world's largest economy.

Coal mining also hit unprecedented levels by topping nine billion tonnes in
output for the first time, the IEA said, with top producers China, India and
Indonesia all posting new production records.

The energy watchdog warned that the explosion in power-hungry data centres
powering the emergence of artificial intelligence was likewise likely to
drive demand for power generation up, with that trend underpinning
electricity demand in coal-guzzling China.

The 2024 report reverses the IEA's prediction last year that coal use would
begin declining after peaking in 2023.

At the annual UN climate change forum in Dubai last year, nations vowed to
transition away from fossil fuels.

But its follow-up this year ended in acrimony, with experts warning that the
failure to double down on that landmark pledge at COP29 in Azerbaijan risked
jeopardising efforts to fight climate change.

Set up in the wake of the 1973 oil crisis, the IEA styles itself as "the
world's leading energy authority".