Benjamin Sporton, WCA Deputy Chief Executive

The past two days I have highlighted the true scale of the challenge we face in improving energy access in the developing world and I’ve shown why coal must be part of the energy solution. At the Vienna Energy Forum this week I’ve heard a lot of talk about the “energy transformation” or other similar phrases. In talk about that transformation the focus has been almost exclusively on renewables. As I said yesterday they will be an important part of the mix, but participants seem to be mostly ignoring the huge role that fossil fuels play in the global energy system and the fact that that won’t change any time soon.

Ignoring the critical role played by coal and other fossil fuels causes two problems. First, their potential to be a part of the solution to energy access is ignored, but second the potential of advanced technologies that significantly reduce CO2 and other emissions is also ignored.

The graph below is taken from the IEA recent Energy Technology Perspectives 2012 publication. It demonstrates how modern, advanced coal-fired power generation technologies increase efficiency and substantially reduce emissions. Upgrading older coal fleets, or ensuring new ones are built with advanced technology can help address energy challenges and concerns about climate change as integrated priorities.

High efficiency, low emission coal (Source: IEA, Energy Technology Perspectives 2012)

In fact switching to high efficiency, low emission coal-fired power plants can be one of the cheapest ways of reducing CO2 emissions. During last year’s climate negotiations I highlighted the example of a power plant in Poland being upgraded – leading to a 20% reduction in emissions at a fraction of the cost of using wind power.

The fact is we can take much more effective, affordable and immediate action by supporting the deployment of high-efficiency, low-emission coal-fired power plants. The example above demonstrates the reality of research by the IEA which 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. A recent report by the IEA’s Coal Industry Advisory Board highlighted the same point.

High efficiency low emission coal is also an important pre-requisite for future deployment of carbon capture and storage. Combined, these technologies lead to a near-zero emission future for coal, so they must be considered as part of the low-carbon development pathway.

For participants in this week’s forum this should be an important point, because many of the countries that suffer from energy poverty also benefit from significant coal reserves. Southern Africa, India and much of developing Asia are looking to utilise their domestic coal supplies to combat energy poverty and improve their energy security. The international community must support them to ensure they utilise these resources with the best technology available.

This is why we should be including these technologies as part of the energy transformation that is needed to address both the challenges of energy access and climate change.

Benjamin Sporton, WCA Deputy Chief Executive

Yesterday I wrote about the ambition that is needed to address the energy access challenge. Clearly the amount of energy needed to lift billions out of poverty is huge.

The focus of this year’s Vienna Energy Forum is the Sustainable Development Goals that will be set in negotiations next year. There’s universal agreement in the forum that energy needs to be one of the SDGs. Including an energy access target in the SDGs will be critical to mobilising global action on this issue.

A target will support investment in energy technologies in the developing world, but what derives from that target must also be recognition that different countries will achieve it in different ways. For some, renewable energy might be the best approach. That has been the focus of discussions at the forum today and in particular renewable and off-grid approaches. These solutions will be useful for addressing the challenge in the short to medium term, particularly for alleviating the severe health and other social consequences a lack of access to energy bring. But we need to look further than that. We must look to longer term and broader solutions to achieve the scale I talked about yesterday and that will mean building robust electricity grids.

For many countries, coal is going to play a huge role in delivering energy access through electricity grids. Southern Africa, India, Pakistan and many Asian countries are already looking to utilise their significant coal resources to meet the energy access challenge. The International Energy Agency said in their 2011 World Energy Outlook that half of the on-grid electricity needed to meet their energy for all target will come from coal. What we put into the SDGs must recognise that reality.

Rather than a strict focus on renewable energy, we must recognise and support the right of developing countries to build energy systems that suit them and their needs. One speaker today said that potential targets for renewables and energy efficiency were trying to get climate change issues in through the back door. Addressing climate change is important, and I will talk more about coal’s role in a low carbon energy system tomorrow, but the post-2015 development agenda must be about ensuring that countries can build their economies and lift their populations out of poverty. We can address both these challenges as integrated priorities, but surely we must recognise the right of developing countries to choose their own development pathways.

In a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) agreement signed last week, the WCA trainee programme, which is fully backed by the Japanese government, will be open to full-time students of the GSAIS who will be mentored by the WCA Secretariat. The aim of the programme will be to offer work experience to GSAIS students and to increase the supply of practically-oriented PhDs in Japanese society and government. WCA is the first non-governmental organisation to have signed an MOU with Kyoto University on this programme – the only other body to have a similar agreement is UNESCO.

A limited number of full-time, unpaid traineeships will be offered to eligible GSAIS students based on technical and linguistic merit and will last between three months and twelve months. Under WCA guidance, trainees will undertake policy research and will work closely with the WCA policy team. All trainees will be appraised accordingly and the individual results sent back to the University in Japan.

Milton Catelin, WCA Chief Executive said, “Students at GSAIS in Kyoto learn how to take the lead in offering global-scale solutions to issues that pose threats to nations and the world at large, such as environmental and energy concerns, food and population crises, and pandemics – issues that concern the very survivability of life. Energy access is one of those major concerns and we hope that during their traineeship with the WCA, students will gain further insight and knowledge on this issue.

“Not only does this MOU demonstrate the importance of the coal and energy sector, it is an invaluable opportunity to work with the potential policymakers of the future and we are honoured to participate.”

Benjamin Sporton, WCA Deputy Chief Executive

As the Vienna Energy Forum gets underway it’s important to think about the scale of the energy challenge that faces the world today. 1.3 billion people have no access to electricity and 2.7 billion people use fuels like wood and dung for cooking and heating.

At last year’s Rio+20 conference world leaders agreed that addressing this problem would be a major international priority. A specific target for delivering energy to those who lack access to it wasn’t agreed at the conference but will be set through the Sustainable Development Goals to be agreed as part of the post-2015 development framework.

But what do we mean by energy access? According to the definition proposed by the International Energy Agency (and consistent with other international bodies) it is defined as “use of a floor fan, a mobile phone, and two compact fluorescent light bulbs for about five hours a day” in rural areas and in urban areas perhaps also “an efficient refrigerator, a second mobile phone per household and another appliance”.

That is not the sort of energy access that will eradicate poverty in the developing world, and it is certainly not the type of energy access those of us in the developed world expect. That is because targets like this one specifically exclude consideration of energy supplies for business, industry and social infrastructure, things that are essential for viable modern societies.

A 2011 study by a group of leading energy economists gave a sense of the real scale of the challenge. Looking at sub-Saharan Africa (excluding South Africa) the study highlighted the need for a twelvefold increase in electrical generation capacity in the region, from the current 31 GW of installed capacity to about 374 GW, to meet even only a moderate access scenario. The story is probably much the same in developing Asia. The graph below gives a sense of the scale involved.

Scenarios and projections for installed power capacity in sub-Saharan Africa (excluding the Republic of South Africa) 2010-2030

To achieve that level of capacity, the study says an annual growth rate in electricity for the next 20 years of around 13% would be needed but in the past 20 years the average has in fact been only 1.7%. This demonstrates the significant challenge faced in providing a genuine level of energy access that can provide real development results.

That’s why, as we convene for the Vienna Energy Forum, it is essential we be ambitious about the sort of energy targets we talk about. That also means we have to be honest about how we are going to achieve them. More on that tomorrow.

Milton Catelin, Chief Executive, WCA

Today EU Leaders have an opportunity to re-balance the EU’s energy policy and make energy affordability and security of supply just as important as the decarbonisation goals. Over the last six years average electricity prices in Europe have increased by 29%. In USA and Japan prices went up by only 1% and 5%.

This is a worrying trend for European businesses and citizens. Today between 50 and 125 million people are affected by energy poverty in Europe. In Bulgaria, Portugal, Lithuania, Romania, Cyprus, Latvia and Malta over 30% of people are unable to keep their homes warm and face disproportionately high energy bills.

Read my latest article about the role of coal and clean coal technologies in keeping energy bills low and reducing the cost of decarbonisation on EurActiv’s website.

Download the full Coal Matters: Coal and Modern Infrastructure fact sheet.

“Coal and Modern Infrastructure” gives an overview of how coal is used is modern infrastructure and focuses in particular on steel, cement, lime and bricks, and aluminium. The other titles available in this series are:

1. Coal in the Global Energy Supply

2. Global Availability of Coal

3. Coal and Electricity Generation.

Download the fact sheets in PDF format.

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.

In a survey of the top ten news stories shaping the global energy sector, WCA’s Members agreed that the boom in the US shale gas industry was the most important news story of the last year. This was followed by the release of International Energy Agency (IEA) statistics showing that the coal industry could equal oil as the world’s top energy source within ten years, the stagnation in the CCS industry, the re-election of US President Barack Obama and, in fifth position, the smog over Beijing.

Milton Catelin, Chief Executive of the WCA, commented: “It has been a year of big changes in the global energy sector, not least the changing dynamic as a result of the growth of shale gas. However, as the IEA figures have shown, the coal industry continues to grow and is expected to rival oil as the world’s largest source of energy in the next decade.”

“What is also clear from our survey is the huge importance of developments in the USA and China on the global energy sector and how it’s covered in the media. The smog over Beijing didn’t just raise environmental issues in China; it raised questions about environmental policies worldwide. Effective environmental policies have to be made against the backdrop of growing energy demand – and technology will be critical to this balancing act. This is why the stagnation in the CCS industry is particularly disappointing and a concern for our members”.

22 April 2013

LONDON – The World Coal Association (WCA) today announced that GE Mining, the division of General Electric (GE) that provides products, services and solutions for the mining industry, has joined the WCA as a Corporate Member.

WCA’s global network of coal companies, national coal associations and other stakeholders with an interest in the future of coal, has now reached a total of 41 members. GE Mining closely follows the addition of Orica at the beginning of this year and further extends WCA’s membership beyond coal producers and strengthens the WCA’s network within the mining services sector.

GE Mining offers products and services for each step of the mining process. These include power generation, water treatment, automation solutions and finance.

Geoff Knox, Chief Executive Officer, GE Global Mining and GE Transport Australia and New Zealand, commented: “By joining the WCA, GE Mining now has an opportunity to engage with fellow member companies from around the globe. The WCA is the only organisation to give the coal industry a strong voice on the international stage. We are looking forward to working with the association and its members on the challenges and exciting prospects that face the industry.”

Milton Catelin, Chief Executive of the WCA, welcomed GE Mining to WCA, commenting: “GE Mining’s membership is testament to the strength of our member-driven organisation. The WCA is now in a fantastic position to engage on wider issues across the coal chain. By joining the WCA, GE Mining has recognised the WCA’s role in helping to secure the future of the global coal industry and we look forward to their input.”