The world’s coal fixation will not get over soon
The closure of Germany’s last mine doesn’t mean it will be completely off coal
Last week, miners at the Prosper-haniel mine presented a chunk of coal to President Frank-walter Steinmeier at a ceremony to announce the closure of the country’s last coal mine. This, however, doesn’t mean that Germany will be completely off coal: the country will import cheaper, foreign coal, which means mining operations will pollute the countries that export coal to the economic powerhouse, but the pollution burden on the European nation will be much lower. Moreover, while Germany has closed down deep-shaft mining, it is yet to close down open-cast lignite, or brown coal, mines. Lignite is considered even dirtier than black coal but remains cheap to extract.
Germany’s decision to close down the last coal mine comes on the heels of other nations doing their bit to meet their decarbonisation goals. According to new research presented at the UN climate change conference in Katowice, Poland, Denmark, Britain, and Canada lead the world when it comes to implementing measures to mitigate climate change. In the US too, despite Donald Trump’s efforts to repeal regulations or otherwise boost coal consumption, power generators are set to retire a total of 14.3 GW of coal-fired power plant capacity in 2018, up from 7.0 GW of capacity retired in 2017, according to an S&P Global Market Intelligence analysis.
While these developments are positive news — phasing out coal is crucial to limiting global warming to within 1.5°C, a UN report said — the world’s coal addiction is not going to go away soon because many parts of the world such as India and China still need the cheap fuel to power their economic growth even though wind and solar costs continue to decline at a rapid pace. The International Energy Agency forecasts that coal will remain among the largest single sources of electricity generation for another 30 years, with it currently accountable for 41% of global generation and 29% of all primary energy demand.