Dirty fossil fuel—coal—returns as oil, gas shortage continues

Reeling under oil and natural gas shortages worsened by the Russia-Ukraine war, countries across the globe have gone back to using the world’s dirtiest fossil fuel, coal.

The US, China, Europe and India are just a few of the world's big economies that have increased short-term coal purchases to fulfill electricity needs.

Demand

The high demand for coal has pushed up prices. Australia's Newcastle port, a major supplier to Asia, was selling coal at a record-high price of $400 a ton last month.

Europe is leading the push for coal after Russia, under sweeping sanctions from the West, cut gas supplies to the continent.

Environment

Germany, which has promised to eliminate coal as a power source by 2030, has now increased imports.

Other European nations are looking at their coal plants to meet the energy requirement.

The return of coal threatens to derail international efforts to maintain global temperatures under 2 degrees Celsius from pre-industrial levels by the end of the century.

Glencore PLC—an Anglo-Swiss giant is cashing in as it now expects $3.2 billion in trading profit in the first half of this year, compared with $3.7 billion for all of 2021.