Jump to page content
The World Coal Institute
The World Coal Institute The World Coal Institute
  • You are here:
  • Blog

  • Category Archives: Energy access

 

Coal – good for Australia; good for the world

Milton Catelin, Chief Executive, WCA

Milton Catelin, Chief Executive, WCA

Our industry has to remind everyone about the value of coal for socio-economic development, especially when irresponsible and ignorant calls are being made to phase out coal or stop its export.

This is all the more important when Greenpeace has mounted a campaign to perpetrate physical attacks on facilities such as ships carrying coal to energy starved Asia.

In Australia, a new report from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology shows that the coal industry brings in AU$43 billion every year.  This represents 3.1% of gross value added in Australia in the year 2011-2012. In terms of employment, the coal industry in Australia generates around 180,000 jobs – most with above national average salaries.

When campaigning for an end to the coal industry in Australia, Greenpeace has no plan for 180,000 people whose jobs depend on coal. It is doubtful  they have done any thinking on the social and economic impact of their reckless attacks, either inside Australia or in the countries that import Australian coal.

In Asia where most Australian coal exports are destined, coal plays a strong role in social and economic development. In China, coal has been the major energy source fuelling the industrial development which raised over 660 million people out of poverty over the past three decades. It has fuelled an unprecedented poverty alleviation campaign. Indeed without poverty reductions in China – 80% fuelled by coal – global poverty has actually increased over the past 30 years!  It is wrong that Greenpeace should dictate that other developing countries should not access the fuel that has driven down poverty in China and driven the prosperity of the Western world.

Coal is one of the most valuable industries Australia has and certainly the industry of most direct social and economic value to the developing world.

April 24, 2013 | Categories: Coal News, Energy access

Basic energy services create more value than revenue

Milton Catelin, Chief Executive, WCA

Milton Catelin, Chief Executive, WCA

Yet another report which pretends to make a cost-benefit analysis of coal-fired power generation has been published.

This time it’s TEEB (The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity), an organisation claiming to promote the uptake of natural capital accounting in business decision-making, ranking businesses activities according to their externalities and questioning the business case behind coal-fired power generation, cattle ranching, cement and steel production and wheat and rice farming, arguing that the revenue these activities generate are often just as high as the environmental costs.

The problem with this report and many others that see the world only through the lenses of climate policy is that it does not attempt to quantify the social and economic value of affordable energy fuels and farming or industrial products.   In other words, the cost benefit analysis doesn’t include the benefit side!

Surely we could all agree that for a society to have access to affordable sources of electricity, food products and basic infrastructure such as roads or bridges, which require both steel and cement, is of huge value.  Most people appear to agree that value far exceeds  the revenue that companies working in these sectors generate; otherwise we would not be talking about reinforcing and protecting energy and food security as one of the core policy objectives of Governments around the world, and we would not be talking about strategic infrastructure and its role in stimulating economic development.

There is also a serious methodological issue with this report – it assumes that each tonne of CO2 presents a cost of $100 to the society. This is way above the current CO2 price in the EU – currently around €3 – which is what the market defines as the right price to fulfil EU’s share of the objective of limiting global temperature increase to 2 degrees Celsius.

I would like to think that the authors of this report are not advocating phasing out of coal, steel, cement, meat, wheat and rice production because that would equate to starvation and life without energy and prospects for many around the world; but it is hard to draw any other conclusion from such a biased report.

April 22, 2013 | Categories: Climate change, Energy access, Sustainable Development

World Coal Association welcomes EU carbon price vote

WCA media release

17 April 2013

LONDON – The World Coal Association (WCA) has welcomed this week’s decision by the European Parliament to reject the proposal to allow carbon prices to be propped up in the Emissions Trading Scheme, calling it a triumph of common sense and balanced policy.

The so-called “back-loading” amendment would have allowed the European Commission to change the timing of the auction of emissions allowances and led to the postponement of the 2013-2015 auction of 900 million allowances until 2019-2020 – providing an artificial boost to carbon prices.

Milton Catelin, Chief Executive of the WCA, praised the decision, stating: “The European Parliament has finally made a decision on environmental policy that recognises that there’s a balance to be made between environmental imperatives and economic growth. At a time when across Europe governments are having to make difficult decisions to stimulate economic growth and tackle debt, it would have been madness to agree to back-loading and ignore the cost burden of EU climate policies on consumers and European industry. The Polish government alone has estimated that back-loading would have cost it €1 billion over the period 2013-2020. Other Eastern European EU members would have been looking at a similar cost. The cost is simply too high at a time when Europe cannot afford it.”

There are other encouraging signs that European leaders may be reviewing the effectiveness of environmental measures, such as propping up carbon prices, and their impact on energy poverty. Last week, the European Commissioner for Energy, Gunther Oettinger, made the point that the cost of energy needed to be given greater weight when setting EU energy policy and that the bloc needed to be more pragmatic about initiatives to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions.

“Both the vote this week and the comments by Commissioner Oettinger are welcome news. For too long, European governments have seemed unwilling to measure the impact of environmental policies, not only in contributing to a reduction in global emissions but also their economic impact. Common sense and a more balanced approach to policy may finally be prevailing”.

-ENDS-

Notes

The World Coal Association was founded in 1985 and has been working on behalf of the global coal industry for almost 30 years. WCA’s Members comprise the world’s major international coal producers and stakeholders. Membership is open to companies and not-for-profit organisations from anywhere in the world. The WCA provides a voice for coal in international environment and energy forums, presenting the case for coal to key stakeholders worldwide.

For further information, please contact:

Katie Warrick, Communications Director
kwarrick@worldcoal.org
t: +44 (0) 20 7851 0052

Vanessa Sobun-Springham, Communications Manager
vsobun-springham@worldcoal.org
t: +44 (0) 20 7851 0052

April 17, 2013 | Categories: Climate change, Energy access, WCA

Sustainable Development Goals post 2015 must include coal

LONDON, 8 April 2013 – Ahead of the high-level summit on energy in the post 2015 development framework taking place in Oslo on 9-10th April 2013, The World Coal Association (WCA) has called for clear action to improve energy access and address the challenge of energy poverty affecting 1.3bn people worldwide.

Participants in the Oslo event will discuss key energy recommendations and potential global energy objectives, with the aim of informing and shaping the post 2015 development agenda on energy issues. As the world’s leading source of electricity, the WCA wants coal to be recognised as having a major role to play in meeting global energy access and climate change objectives.

Milton Catelin, Chief Executive of the WCA, commented “One of the biggest criticisms of the Rio+20 conference was the lack of ambition to improve energy access and no real statement on how the international community can work together to deliver energy for all. In the current global discourse on energy poverty there is too much focus on patchwork solutions for energy access.

“During this meeting in Oslo, we must look to longer term and broader solutions for providing grid-based electricity going further than the immediate challenge of energy for households and into energy for business and industry, to support real economic development and stronger social infrastructure. It is this broader approach that needs to be incorporated into an energy target in the Sustainable Development Goals.

“Including energy access targets post 2015 will be critical to mobilising global action and support investment in modern energy technologies in the developing world. A robust energy access target is one essential component, but what derives from that target must also be recognition that different countries will achieve it in different way. For some, renewable energy might be the best approach, but for many other countries, coal is going to play a huge role in delivering energy access.  For example, South Africa, India, Pakistan and many Asian countries are already looking to utilise their significant coal resources to meet this particular challenge.

“The International Energy Agency recently said that more than half of the on-grid electricity needed to meet the energy for all target will come from coal. What we put into the Sustainable Development Goals must recognise that reality.”

April 8, 2013 | Categories: Energy access, Sustainable Development

Coal’s impact on economic development – Results of our reader poll

Milton Catelin, Chief Executive, WCA

Milton Catelin, Chief Executive, WCA

Last month, WCA asked blog readers to what extent has the availability of affordable coal impacted global economic development.

To what extent has the availability of affordable coal impacted global economic development

84% of people thought that the availability of affordable coal had had a high or medium impact on global economic development. Only 16% felt coal had made little impact on global economic development.

So let’s look at the true economic impact of coal. Coal currently provides 40% of the world’s electricity needs. It’s the second source of primary energy in the world after oil, and the first source of electricity generation. Since the beginning of the 21st century, it has been the fastest-growing global energy source. The last decade’s growth in coal use has been driven by the economic growth of developing economies, mainly China. The availability of affordable coal to meet China’s energy needs has had a huge impact on economic and social development. Last year, the World Bank and the UN celebrated the fact that global poverty was halved – a goal which was set as one of the Millennium Development Goals. However, virtually all of the world’s poverty reduction over recent history has been in China.

No other poverty alleviation strategy in history has been more effective than the one implemented by China and driven by an economy fuelled more than 70% by coal. China has provided access to the national electricity grid to 99% of its population and lifted 662 million of its people above the poverty line.

In South Africa coal is being used to bring electricity to some of the 12.5 million people – 25% of the South African population – who lack it. This electricity will help address the fact that half of South Africa’s population lives in poverty. India’s substantial coal resources can be deployed to help bring electricity to the 600 million people who lack it there. As nations develop, they are naturally going to seek secure, reliable and affordable sources of energy to strengthen and build their economies – coal is the logical choice. Without energy, people cannot access the opportunities provided by the modern world, and social and economic development is unfairly curtailed.

We all know the environmental consequences and we should do all that we can to use coal as cleanly as possible. And that is beginning to happen. China, for example, is now making 36% of all its global investments in advanced coal technologies. Deploying advanced coal-fired power generation and CCS in developing countries will be a key means of delivering cleaner energy to those who need it most. In the developed world it will help secure energy supplies and provide a low cost pathway to achieving a cleaner energy future.

March 19, 2013 | Categories: Energy access, Sustainable Development

HEAL report – absurd recommendations based on biased analysis

Aleksandra Tomczak, WCA Policy Manager

Aleksandra Tomczak, WCA Policy Manager

HEAL report on “How coal plants make us sick” makes absurd recommendations based on biased analysis. The report says that 18,200 premature deaths in Europe are caused from air pollution from coal plants every year.  What it doesn’t say is that this is only 3.7% of the total 492,000 estimated premature deaths in Europe due to outdoor air pollution.
I find it astonishing that an NGO concerned with air quality should focus on a sector which represents 3.7% of the problem. It is even more astonishing if you think that this was their first report in 2013 – the year of Air Quality, as announced by the European Commissioner for Environment.
But clearly HEAL is not very bothered about coal being only a fraction of the air pollution problem as the report recommends a moratorium on coal plants and a phase out of existing coal plants by 2040.
This recommendation is absurd for two reasons.
Coal-based power generation, as with any form of industrial activity has its negative AND positive externalities. In the case of coal it is always the negative externalities that get traction among the NGO community and those have been scrutinised on a number of occasions. However, there are also positive externalities related to coal’s relative affordability as an energy fuel and the affordability of coal combustion technologies. A proof for that is the fact that coal is the fastest growing fuel worldwide, especially among developing countries.
In relation to this, I wonder if the authors of the report have looked at the number of deaths in Europe due to unaffordable energy for heating during winter. In just England and Wales, 27,000 people die each year because of cold temperatures and 10% of this is directly attributed to fuel poverty. Extrapolating these figures to the EU level, well over 20,000 people could be dying because of unaffordable fuel every year in Europe. And this is a VERY conservative estimate. Bjorn Lomborg assesses that around 1,5 million people could be dying prematurely each year because of cold. Clearly, an energy fuel with the lowest nominal cost has a vital role to play in Europe’s energy mix, keeping prices low for consumers.
The recommendation to phase out coal is also absurd because it totally ignores the technology potential to reduce unwanted emissions from coal plants, including via the deployment of pollution control technologies, efficiency improvements at coal plants and the deployment of CCS. The report dismisses high-efficiency low-emission coal technologies by saying that in a 46% efficient plant over half of the energy input is never converted into energy. Is the same criteria applied to gas plants which convert only 60% of gas into energy? or to solar panels which convert only 5% to 19% of solar energy into electric energy in the 15% of time they can actually work?
The report also makes quick assumptions about the risks behind CCS technology without quoting any scientific data, statistics or legal frameworks that are being introduced to ensure that storing CO2 is safe.
This report does not bring any meaningful recommendations. It is a lost opportunity for the Health and Environment Alliance to make realistic, informed and weighted proposals on how to improve the environmental footprint of coal plants. And most importantly, it is a missed opportunity to address the real major sources of the outdoor air pollution problem.

The HEAL report says that 18,200 premature deaths in Europe are caused from air pollution from coal plants every year.  What it doesn’t say is that this is only 3.7% of the total 492,000 estimated premature deaths in Europe due to outdoor air pollution.

I find it astonishing that an NGO concerned with air quality should focus on a sector which represents 3.7% of the problem. It is even more astonishing if you think that this was their first report in 2013 – the year of Air Quality, as announced by the European Commissioner for Environment.

But clearly HEAL is not very bothered about coal being only a fraction of the air pollution problem as the report recommends a moratorium on coal plants and a phase out of existing coal plants by 2040.

This recommendation is absurd for two reasons.

Coal-based power generation, as with any form of industrial activity has its negative AND positive externalities. In the case of coal it is always the negative externalities that get traction among the NGO community and those have been scrutinised on a number of occasions. However, there are also positive externalities related to coal’s relative affordability as an energy fuel and the affordability of coal combustion technologies. A proof for that is the fact that coal is the fastest growing fuel worldwide, especially among developing countries.

In relation to this, I wonder if the authors of the report have looked at the number of deaths in Europe due to unaffordable energy for heating during winter. In just England and Wales, 27,000 people die each year because of cold temperatures and 10% of this is directly attributed to fuel poverty. Extrapolating these figures to the EU level, well over 20,000 people could be dying because of unaffordable fuel every year in Europe. And this is a VERY conservative estimate. Bjorn Lomborg assesses that around 1.5 million people could be dying prematurely each year because of cold. Clearly, an energy fuel with the lowest nominal cost has a vital role to play in Europe’s energy mix, keeping prices low for consumers.

The recommendation to phase out coal is also absurd because it totally ignores the technology potential to reduce unwanted emissions from coal plants, including via the deployment of pollution control technologies, efficiency improvements at coal plants and the deployment of CCS. The report dismisses high-efficiency low-emission coal technologies by saying that in a 46% efficient plant over half of the energy input is never converted into energy. Is the same criteria applied to gas plants which convert only 60% of gas into energy? or to solar panels which convert only 5% to 19% of solar energy into electric energy in the 15% of time they can actually work?

The report also makes quick assumptions about the risks behind CCS technology without quoting any scientific data, statistics or legal frameworks that are being introduced to ensure that storing CO2 is safe.

This report does not bring any meaningful recommendations. It is a lost opportunity for the Health and Environment Alliance to make realistic, informed and weighted proposals on how to improve the environmental footprint of coal plants. And most importantly, it is a missed opportunity to address the real major sources of the outdoor air pollution problem.

March 15, 2013 | Categories: Climate change, Energy access, WCA

Long live the King

Milton Catelin, Chief Executive, WCA

Milton Catelin, Chief Executive, WCA

This week it was reported that Mayor Bloomberg, speaking at a US Department of Energy-sponsored advanced energy conference near Washington, proclaimed coal to be a ‘dead man walking’:

“Even though the coal industry doesn’t totally know it yet, or is ready to admit it, its day is done. It used to be said that coal is king… here in the US, I am happy to say, the king is dead. Coal is a dead man walking” - Mayor Bloomberg

This is the latest soundbite to come out of Mayor Bloomberg’s ‘Beyond Coal’ campaign, a joint initiative with the Sierra Club where the aim is to secure the retirement of a third of the coal-fired power stations in the US.

But here are the facts that the campaign has not yet shared:

  • Coal accounts for 41% of the world’s electricity generation – and this is set to increase (IEA).
  • By 2030, coal will be the most widely used fuel worldwide as developing countries electrify burgeoning cities and rural areas (IEA).
  • The Energy Information Administration has estimated that coal will still account for as much as 35% of electricity generated for at least 30 years in the US.
  • In 2011, 42% of nearly 4 trillion kilowatt hours of electricity in the US used coal as its source of energy (EIA).
  • If you add it up, the energy potential of American coal exceeds that of all the oil in the Middle East.
  • Coal is key to ensuring America’s electricity supply is affordable and reliable.

It is important to remember that increased coal use brings economic advantages and enhances energy security for Americans just as it does in other countries. The good news for the world is that it is also possible to reconcile the use of coal with climate change targets.  Investment in advanced low-carbon technologies, such as CCUS (carbon, capture, use and storage), as well as improved efficiency at coal-fired power stations will be key to meeting those targets.

March 7, 2013 | Categories: CCS, Climate change, Energy access

Soaring energy costs in the EU no longer acceptable

Aleksandra Tomczak, WCA Policy Manager

Aleksandra Tomczak, WCA Policy Manager

Last month saw Bulgaria’s Prime Minister resign following nationwide protests against rising energy bills. The anger of Bulgarians is understandable – it is not uncommon for households to spend more than 50% of their monthly revenue to cover energy bills. Unfortunately judging by the general evolution of energy prices in other EU Member States there are little chances for energy bills in Bulgaria to go down in the coming years.

The Bulgarian Government should be held accountable for failing to identify and to address the problem of energy poverty within its borders, however since its entry into the European Union, Bulgaria shares the power over its energy policy and market with the European Commission – the only institution holding the right to propose EU-wide legislation.

According to the EU Fuel Poverty Network over 20% of citizens in a number of Central, Eastern and South Eastern parts of the EU are unable to keep their homes adequately warm. Energy poverty is even more pronounced in Portugal and Bulgaria where over 30% of citizens cannot afford basic energy services and according to a paper published on the European Commission website, the share of Bulgaria’s population unable to warm their homes could be actually much higher.

Clearly, energy poverty should occupy a more important place on the EU energy policy agenda, next to, not below, the decarbonisation target, enforcement of energy security and the implementation of the internal energy market. The European Commission, as an agenda setter for the European Community, has a duty to respond to the recent energy crisis in Bulgaria by getting more serious about the affordability of energy.

As for the coal industry it is our duty to constantly reiterate a few important facts. First of all, that coal power plants in the EU generate electricity at half the price of offshore wind turbines and a quarter of the price of solar PVs – not to mention additional comparative advantage of coal in terms of non-intermittent energy supply which does not need back-up generation capacity. The second most important fact, of great significance in the current economic context, is that EU Member States, including Bulgaria, Poland, Greece, Germany and Czech Republic, have vast amounts of indigenous coal which they can use without worsening their international trade deficits.

As more people are affected by rising energy costs across the EU these arguments will resonate more strongly, hopefully leading to a more rational and concrete debate on the place of coal in the transition to a low-emissions economy in the EU.

March 1, 2013 | Categories: Energy access

Coal vital to meeting energy access targets

19 December 2012

London – The World Coal Association (WCA) has today called on the International Energy Agency (IEA) to recognise the importance of coal in meeting global energy access objectives.

At the launch of the latest “Medium Term Coal Market Report” (MCMR), the head of the IEA Maria van der Hoeven, made comments that implied the world should turn to gas to reduce coal demand and meet climate change objectives.

The IEA forecasts a growing role for coal in the world’s energy supply over the next five years, potentially surpassing oil as the world’s biggest supplier of primary energy.

Milton Catelin, Chief Executive of the WCA, commented: “Unfortunately, many still only see coal use through the lens of climate change. They lament the increasing role coal has in meeting the world’s ever-growing energy needs because of the associated carbon emissions. From today’s launch of the MCMR it seems the head of the IEA, Maria van der Hoeven, is firmly within this group. While her comments highlight the need to reduce carbon emissions to meet global climate objectives, she appears to completely ignore the importance of coal to meeting global energy access objectives.

“These two global challenges, energy access and climate change, should be treated as integrated priorities. Governments, the international community and the IEA need to recognise that the increasing demand for coal means they must treat it as part of the climate solution, not part of the problem.

“Ms van der Hoeven is right that we need to get serious about deploying carbon capture and storage – for gas as well as coal. But we can take much more effective, affordable and immediate action by supporting the deployment of high-efficiency, low-emission coal-fired power plants. The IEA’s own research has shown that deploying modern, highly efficient coal plants can reduce CO2 emissions by as much as 30% from coal-fired power generation and it can do this at a much lower cost than renewable energies. That means there are huge economic and climate benefits from building more efficient coal-fired power stations.

“It’s time to add a development filter to the climate lens when looking at coal’s role in the global energy mix. This report from the IEA is good news for the developing world when it comes to meeting their energy access challenges. But there is good news too when it comes to coal’s role in meeting global climate ambitions. It’s time for this role to be recognised.”

–ENDS—

Notes to Editors

The World Coal Association was established in 1985. It comprises the world’s leading international coal producers and stakeholders. Membership is open to companies and not-for-profit organisations with a stake in the future of coal from anywhere in the world. The WCA provides a voice for coal in international environment and energy forums, presenting the case for coal to key stakeholders worldwide.

For further information, please contact:

Katie Warrick, Director – Communications
kwarrick@worldcoal.org
t: +44 (0) 20 7851 0052

December 19, 2012 | Categories: CCS, Climate change, Energy access, WCA

Coal’s growing role is good news for the energy poor

Milton Catelin, Chief Executive, WCA

Milton Catelin, Chief Executive, WCA

Today the International Energy Agency released its annual “Medium Term Coal Market Report” (MCMR) which forecasts a growing role for coal in the world’s energy supply over the next five years, potentially surpassing oil as the world’s biggest supplier of primary energy.

In earlier reports, the IEA has already highlighted that coal has met almost half of the increase in the world’s energy demand in the past decade. They’ve also shown that coal will provide more than half of the on-grid electricity needed to meet its ‘Energy for All’ scenario – helping to lift 1.3 billion people out of energy poverty. So coal’s growing role in the global energy mix can only be good news for meeting one of the developing world’s most pressing challenges.

It means developing countries will have access to an abundant, affordable and reliable fuel source to meet their growing energy needs well into the future, powering homes and businesses and lifting millions out of poverty. The huge achievement in China of lifting 600 million people out of poverty since the early 1980s has been fuelled by coal.

Unfortunately, many still only see coal use through the lens of climate change. They lament the increasing role coal has in meeting the world’s ever-growing energy needs because of the associated carbon emissions. From today’s launch of the MCMR it seems the head of the IEA, Maria van der Hoeven is firmly within this group. While her comments highlight the need to reduce carbon emissions to meet global climate objectives, she appears to ignore the importance of coal to meeting global energy access objectives.

These two global challenges, energy access and climate change, should be treated as integrated priorities. Governments, the international community and the IEA need to recognise that the increasing demand for coal means they must treat it as part of the climate solution, not part of the problem.

As Ms van der Hoeven says, we need to get serious about deploying carbon capture and storage, but we can take much more effective, affordable and immediate action by supporting the deployment of high-efficiency low-emission coal-fired power plants. Another IEA report published earlier this month, highlights the role these plants will play in dramatically reducing the emissions from coal. Deploying modern, highly efficient coal plants can reduce CO2 emissions by as much as 30% from coal-fired power generation and it can do this at a much lower cost than renewable energies. That means there are huge economic and climate benefits from building more efficient coal-fired power stations.

It’s time to add a development filter to the climate lens when looking at coal’s role in the global energy mix. This report from the IEA is good news for the developing world when it comes to meeting their energy access challenges. But there is good news too when it comes to coal’s role in meeting global climate ambitions.

December 18, 2012 | Categories: Climate change, Energy access, Sustainable Development
Page 1 of 3123»
WCA Blog