Global Coal Phase-Out: Challenges, Progress, and Pathways to a Sustainable Energy Future

The significant reduction in coal usage has been the primary factor behind the decrease in US greenhouse gas emissions in recent years.

As the 30th annual United Nations climate conference convenes in Brazil, bringing together world leaders, researchers, activists, and lobbyists, there's widespread concern about insufficient progress on addressing climate change. Global greenhouse gas emissions and temperatures continue their upward trajectory. In the United States, the Trump administration has declined to send an official delegation to the climate talks while simultaneously rolling back environmental regulations and encouraging increased fossil fuel consumption—the leading cause of climate change.

Coal consumption is rising, particularly across India and China. Meanwhile, debates continue about ensuring justice and future prosperity for communities that currently depend on coal mining and coal power generation.

Yet beneath these concerning trends lie complex, sometimes contradictory, and occasionally hopeful developments.

Coal presents a significant challenge as the most environmentally harmful fossil fuel and a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, negatively impacting both climate stability and human health. This makes coal an important target for emission reduction efforts.

The rapid decline in coal utilization has been instrumental in reducing US greenhouse gas emissions in recent years as natural gas and renewable energy sources have become more economically competitive.

Currently, nearly one-third of countries worldwide have committed to phasing out their unabated coal-fired power plants, including some unexpected nations. Germany, Spain, Malaysia, and the Czech Republic—all countries with substantial coal reserves and current coal usage—are among more than 60 nations that have joined the Powering Past Coal Alliance and established phase-out deadlines between 2025 and 2040.

Several European Union and Latin American governments have emerged as leaders in coal phase-out initiatives, contributing to the EU's continuing reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.

The global status of coal phase-out presents a mixed picture. For example:

The accelerating deployment of renewable energy, energy storage technologies, electric vehicles, and energy efficiency improvements worldwide provides hope that global emissions may soon reach their peak. More than 90% of new electricity generation capacity installed globally in 2024 came from clean energy sources. However, rapidly increasing energy demand means that new renewable power doesn't always replace older fossil fuel plants or prevent construction of new ones, including coal plants.

China now consumes more coal than the rest of the world combined and continues constructing new coal-fired power plants. Yet China simultaneously leads dramatic growth in solar and wind energy investments and electricity generation both domestically and internationally. As the global leader in renewable energy technology, China has strong economic incentives to promote solar and wind power worldwide.

While climate policies aimed at reducing coal use face political backlash and policy reversals in the United States and several European democracies, many other governments globally continue to enact and implement cleaner energy policies and emissions reduction strategies.

Phasing out coal isn't simple, nor is it happening as rapidly as scientific studies indicate is necessary to mitigate climate change.

Research demonstrates that meeting the 2015 Paris Agreement's goals—limiting global warming to well under 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) compared to pre-industrial times, and aiming to keep warming under 1.5 C (2.7 F)—requires rapid reduction of almost all fossil fuel consumption and associated emissions. The world is currently far from this trajectory.

Many coal-producing countries are concerned about the transition challenges facing coal-dependent communities as mines close and jobs disappear.

No one wants to replicate former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's devastating impact on British coal communities in the 1980s during her confrontation with the mineworkers union. The rapid closure of mines left many coal communities and regions suffering from prolonged economic and social decline for decades.

However, as more countries phase out coal, they provide examples of how to ensure coal-dependent workers, communities, regions, and entire nations can benefit from a just transition to a coal-free economy.

Research indicates that at local and national levels, careful planning, grid modernization, reliable financing mechanisms, worker retraining programs, small-business development support, and public funding for coal worker pensions and community and infrastructure investments can help position coal communities for future prosperity.

The world possesses affordable renewable energy technologies capable of replacing coal-fired electricity generation. The shift to renewable energy offers additional benefits, particularly regarding human health outcomes for those living and working near coal mines and power plants.

While challenges remain in transitioning to clean energy, clear pathways exist. Progress can be accelerated by removing political and regulatory obstacles to renewable energy development and transmission infrastructure, increasing production of renewable energy equipment, and helping low-income countries manage upfront costs through more affordable financing options.

So can the world quit coal? Yes, I believe we can. Or, as Brazilians say, "Sim, nós podemos."

(Author: Stacy D. VanDeveer, Professor of Global Governance & Human Security, UMass Boston)

(This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.)

(Disclosure Statement: Stacy D. VanDeveer does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.)