I wouldn’t lose too much sleep. We still have a lot of Pacific Rim nations who are hungry for the spicy rocks. The trimming of the sails is a good sign, globally. And even individually, these countries have curbed their appetite. But there’s still a robust global market for coal exports for a generation or more, unless coal planets are decommissioned faster.
Without the emissions growth in China, India, and Indonesia, global energy sector emissions would have already peaked and begun to decline before 2020. Coal consumption increased 15% in China, 42% in India, and 150% in Indonesia from 2015 to 2024, while consumption in the rest of the world fell 23%.
I wouldn’t lose too much sleep. We still have a lot of Pacific Rim nations who are hungry for the spicy rocks. The trimming of the sails is a good sign, globally. And even individually, these countries have curbed their appetite. But there’s still a robust global market for coal exports for a generation or more, unless coal planets are decommissioned faster.