The world loves coal. That is the simple message from results showing new coal-fired power plants hit a global 10-year high in 2025, defying climate doomers who decry its use and long for wind farms, solar panels and hydro power everywhere.
Rising gas prices and supply disruptions linked to the Middle East crisis are just some of the factors pushing countries like China, Indonesia, India, Japan, South Korea, Germany, and Italy to rely more heavily on dependable coal-fired energy security even as the global coal fleet generated less electricity – for now.
Overall coal power capacity — plants that came online or were commissioned — jumped 3.5 percent last year according to a report from Global Energy Monitor (GEM), which has tracked coal power for more than a decade, AFP reports.
The overwhelming majority of that — 95 percent — was in China and India, GEM said, with the U.S. also keenly embracing the power source under President Donald Trump who calls it “beautiful, clean coal,” as Breitbart News reported.
According to the president, his administration has also approved more than 70 permits for new mining projects, after Biden approved none throughout his term.
Beijing sees coal as a reliable failsafe for intermittent renewable supply, particularly for after power shortages several years ago, the AFP report notes.
India, the world’s most populous country, is leaning heavily on coal-fired sources to meet soaring electricity demand.
In Africa, coal proposals were again concentrated in Zimbabwe and Zambia, which together accounted for two-thirds of new coal development in the region.
FILE/Supporters holds signs in favor of coal mining as U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a Make America Great Again campaign rally at Altoona-Blair County Airport in Martinsburg, Pennsylvania, October 26, 2020. (SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)
Globally, the retirement of coal power slowed last year, with nearly 70 percent of units that were due to end operations instead staying online, GEM said per AFP.
In Europe, those missed targets were linked primarily to decisions taken during the 2022-23 energy crisis caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
In the United States however, retirement delays reflect a determined government push for coal as a direct aid to energy self-sufficiency , said Shearer.
“U.S. coal-fired generation rose by more than 80 TWh (terawatt hours) year-on-year, a figure so large that no other country came close,” said Christine Shearer, project manager of GEM’s Global Coal Plant Tracker and author of the report.
The surge “was not simply a function of (demand) growth, it reflected a policy environment that actively encouraged it,” she added.
Read the full GEM coal report here