Biggest coal miners geared for growth
More than half the world’s largest coal companies are planning for expansion even as competition from renewable energy rises and financiers shy from backing fossil fuels.
That’s the key finding in the Global Coal Exit List, released ahead of yesterday’s international strikes for climate action.
Investors representing US$US10 trillion (NZ$15.9 trillion) in assets are using the list’s divestment criteria to screen out coal companies from their portfolios, contributing to a halving of the pipeline of proposed coal-fired power plants in the past three years, Germany’s non-profit Urgewald and 30 other non-government organisations found.
Still, some 259 companies are planning or developing power stations in 60 nations, many of which have little or no coal-fired power.
Those projects would add 579,000 megawatts, or increase total coal fleet capacity by 29 per cent if developed.
‘‘Our 2019 data shows that the time for patient engagement with the coal industry has definitely run out,’’ Heffa Schuecking, director of Urgewald, said.
‘‘Out of the top 30 coal miners that account for half of the world’s thermal coal production, 24 are still in expansion mode. 22 of these countries have very little or no coalfired capacity as of yet, and it’s very worrying to see them being pushed into a cycle of coal dependency.’’
To avoid overshooting the lower end of the Paris climate target to keep global warming to 1.5 degrees, coal-fired power must be reduced 78 per cent by 2030, she said.
‘‘But right now, we are still fighting an expansion of the industry,’’ Schuecking said. ‘‘So resources that should be flowing into the energy transition are instead flowing into projects that put further stumbling blocks between us and the Paris goals.’’
The report’s release comes as organisers are preparing climaterelated protests around the world, ahead of a United Nations climate summit in New York on Monday. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is also scheduled to release its special report on the Ocean and Cryosphere on Wednesday. ‘‘Whether we get out of coal in time to prevent run-away climate change is a big if, but a massive energy shift is under way and in many markets – including India – building new renewables has now become cheaper than continuing to run existing coal plants,’’ Schuecking said.
‘‘Our 2019 data shows that the time for patient engagement with the coal industry has definitely run out.’’ Heffa Schuecking, Urgewald
While at least 26 commercial banks and 16 major insurers have opted to halt the financing or underwriting of new coal projects, developers are still able to tap funds for the projects, she said.
That’s because some are stateowned, such as in China, or able to secure capital through institutional investors including BlackRock.
Australia has 51 coal companies, trailing only China, India and the US in numbers, Urgewald said. On the other hand, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia was also among the first big banks to declare plans for a complete exit from coal, the group said.
Schuecking said Australia’s Carmichael coal mine planned by Adani for Queensland’s Galilee basin appeared to be ‘‘an enormous economic boondoggle’’ because its high production costs made it unviable without big support by governments. ‘‘The Carmichael mine is an ill-advised bet on a sunset industry,’’ she said.
China topped the list of nations with the largest coal plants in the pipeline, with some 226,229MW of capacity planned.