The Global Role of Coal
In the Past...
 One
hundred years ago much of the industrial world
was almost entirely dependent on coal. Since then
coal's share of the primary energy market has
declined for essentially two reasons:
First, oil became more widely available, and natural
gas, nuclear energy and, more recently, new non-fossil
energy technologies have emerged to claim a share
of the energy market.
Second, the nature of the energy market itself
changed, largely through the growth of personal
transport and widespread electrification.
But coal is not a fuel of the past. While its
overall share of the energy mix may have fallen,
the overall global demand for coal has continued
to increase.
Today...
The world today has a more diversified
energy economy with each primary energy source
being used where it is most suited.
Today, coal contributes about 24
per cent of global primary energy demand, second
only to oil (35 per cent), and is used to produce
39 per cent of the world's electricity.
Coal is also the key requirement for two other
building blocks of modern society - the production
of steel and cement.
Around 543 million tonnes of coking coal and pulverised
coal injection (PCI) coals (14 per cent of total
global hard coal production) are used to produce
over 66 per cent of the steel produced in the
world.
Location of the World's Main
Fossil Fuel Reserves
(Gigatons of coal equivalent)
Source: Optima,
Vol.1 No.1, Feb. 2005; as published in ECOAL Newsletter
July 2005, World Coal Institute
Coal reserves are also
significantly more abundant and much more widely
and evenly dispersed than other fossil fuels.
Oil and gas reserves are more tightly concentrated
in the Middle East and the former Soviet Union
(see world map below). Coal is therefore well
positioned to make a valuable contribution to
global security.
Rapid world population growth and economic development,
particularly in developing countries, are resulting
in phenomenal growth in world energy demand. If
we are to meet the aspirations of many of the
world's people, 2 billion of whom currently have
no access to electricity, coal will have to play
a major role in meeting this demand for at least
the foreseeable future.
At a Glance...
- 24% of primary energy needs worldwide were
met by coal in 2002. (25% in 1973.)
- 39% of global electricity was generated from
coal in 2002. Poland, South Africa, Australia
and China all rely on coal to produce over three-quarters
of their electricity, India over 60%, and the
USA and Germany more than half.
- 66% of global steel production depends on
coal feedstock, with around 543 Mt of coal being
used in steel blast furnaces in 2003. Further
quantities of coal provide much of the electricity
used to power electric arc furnaces to produce
the balance of global steel production.
- Global hard coal production has grown by around
80% in the last 30 years to 4,038 million tonnes
(Mt) in 2003;
- Major hard coal producers include China 1670
Mt, USA 894 Mt, India 358 Mt, Australia 275
Mt, South Africa 240 Mt, Russia 177 Mt, Indonesia
115, Poland 103 Mt, Ukraine 64 Mt, and Kazakhstan
85 Mt.
- Brown coal/lignite production totalled 893
Mt in 2003, with Germany, USA, Greece, Russia,
Australia and Poland among the leading producers
and consumers.
Sources: IEA Key World Energy Statistics
2004; Coal and Steel Facts 2005, World Coal Institute;
IEA Coal Information 2005
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