Public attitudes to coal, clean coal technologies and energy costs
Ecoal, Vol 76, November 2011
The public's perception of coal power plants has not always been favourable. In a number of countries public opposition towards coal resulted in coal power plant projects being delayed or cancelled. In some cases public opposition was also directed against new coal extraction activities or against upgrades in infrastructure allowing greater exports of coal. In the longer term, public attitudes also shape public policy, including planning policy on a local level and environment and climate policy on a national and regional level - both of which define the reality in which the international coal industry operates.
This article presents the findings of recent surveys by the European Commission, World Public Opinion.org , the Financial Times and other bodies, on public attitudes towards coal, clean coal technologies and energy costs.
Mixed opinions
Developing countries are much more favourable towards coal-fired power plants. An opinion poll conducted in 2008 by World Public Opinion.org on the level of support for building coal and oil-fired power plants shows that in countries such as Kenya, Nigeria, Turkey and Indonesia at least half of the population thinks that a greater emphasis should be put on building coal power plants. In South Korea, India, Thailand, China, Azerbaijan and Mexico most respondents believe that governments should continue emphasising the importance of coal electricity.
Opinions in many developed countries are rather different. The same survey shows that most Germans believe less emphasis should be put on building coal power plants and in the USA, a survey conducted in 2009 for Public Opinion Quarterly shows that 45% of Americans strongly oppose new coal-fired power plants.
EU not against coal
When asked whether they are in favour or opposed to the use of coal for energy generation, 26% of EU citizens surveyed in 2007 said they were in favour and 49% said they had balanced views. Only 20% were opposed. Three years later 43% were either fairly or strongly in favour and 48% were fairly or strongly opposed.
These results show that opinions on coal in the EU are very evenly split. The 2007 opinion poll also shows that the majority of people actually opposed the use of coal in only two countries - Sweden and Malta. The majority in other countries was either in favour of coal use or held balanced views.
Public opinion is especially favourable towards coal in Central and Eastern European countries such as Poland where over two thirds of the population support further use of coal. In the UK over half of the population supports coal projects and only 9% are strongly opposed. On the other side of the spectrum, countries with strongest anti-coal feelings in Europe are Greece, Netherlands and France.
Clean Coal Technologies are not well known
There is very little awareness in developed countries of the fact that coal can be used sustainably. In fact, clean coal technologies are the least known among alternative energy technologies. In Europe, while over half of the population has heard of solar energy or nuclear fusion, only 22% know about clean coal technologies and only one in ten has heard about CCS and knows what it is. In the USA only 16.5% have heard about CCS according to MIT. Only Sweden and Japan showed greater awareness of CCS and of the potential contribution of the technology towards mitigating climate change.
Attitudes to electricity costs
Negative attitudes towards coal in many countries are in sharp contrast with the continuously growing coal consumption globally over the past decade and sustained use of coal in developed countries such as Germany, Japan or the USA. To a certain extent the importance of coal in the current global electricity mix can be explained by the fact that coal power plants can generate electricity at a very low cost in comparison to alternative fuels and technologies.
Cost is a key factor in the choice of energy technology and fuel and an important variable to consider for policy makers. In fact, as much as there is a great degree of consensus among both developed and developing countries that climate change is a serious threat and should be addressed by governments, there is little support for higher energy prices or taxes to finance greenhouse gas reduction.
A survey carried out in 2009 by the Financial Times showed that the majority of people in the UK, France, Italy, Germany and the USA disagree with paying more taxes to cut greenhouse gas emissions. Over half of Europeans are also not prepared to pay more for renewable energy and a further 27% are prepared to do so but only if the price increase is limited to 5%. In comparison to this, the IEA analysis shows that generating electricity from renewable energy technologies is twice to eight times as expensive as coal-based electricity.
Public opinion on coal in the EU
Source: European Commission 2011
