According to the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) updated coal market report, global coal demand is expected to remain broadly stable over the next two years, as increased electricity demand in several major economies offsets the rapid expansion of solar and wind power.
　　Driven by strong growth in China and India—the two largest coal-consuming countries—global coal consumption rose by 2.6% in 2023, reaching a new all-time high. The report notes that although coal demand increased in the power and industrial sectors, the primary driver of this growth was the use of coal to fill the gap created by low hydropower generation and rapidly rising electricity demand. According to the IEA’s Director of Energy Markets and Security, global coal demand is likely to remain broadly stable through 2025—a finding that takes into account current policies and market trends.
　　As for different countries and regions, although the continued deployment of solar and wind energy is helping to slow the growth in China’s coal consumption, electricity demand is expected to rise by 6.5% this year, making it unlikely that the country’s coal consumption will decline significantly. With climatic conditions returning to seasonal averages and hydropower generation increasing, India’s coal demand growth is set to slow down in the second half of this year. After falling by more than 25% last year, the European Union’s coal-fired power generation is projected to see a similar decline this year. In recent years, U.S. coal consumption has also dropped sharply; however, rising electricity demand and a slowdown in the shift from coal to natural gas have helped limit the decline in the country’s coal usage in 2024.