Coal Is The New Black Gold
Coal is making an absolute resurgence, as supply constraints for natural gas & oil in the wake of the Russia/Ukraine conflict are shifting countries’ sources for power generation. The bulk majority of coal’s resurgence is coming from Europe, though other major contributors to the boost in usage include the United States, China, and India. This recent demand spike in coal has driven the price to absolutely astronomical levels.
To put the coal boom into perspective, Glencore, which is a Anglo-Swiss company still heavily invested in coal, recorded a profit of $3.2 Billion in the first half of this year, compared to $3.7 Billion in all of 2021. It’s actually crazy to think that many energy companies (not just Glencore) are reaping the benefits of a newfound commodity demand squeeze.
What’s also disturbing (to say the least) is that India and China have pledged to ramp up their domestic coal production by 700 million tons per year. U.S. total coal production this year will total ~600 million tons. So much for moving towards alternative energy, amirite? It’s becoming very clear that coal is certainly not going away as a primary source of electricity generation, as much as we want it to disappear from our lives entirely. The United Nations Secretary-General Guterres last year said that there was a “high risk of failure” that climate accords will be fruitful unless countries are willing to cut their use. Although that’s becoming increasingly difficult across Europe, and we’re seeing also that India and China apparently don’t give a single fuck.
What coal misses in its “cleanness”, it makes up for in its ease and relative attractiveness for its use as a major source of power generation. It’s a shame that practically all of the global carbon dioxide output is via power generation. Coal is readily transportable. It doesn’t need complex pipelines for transportation. It literally needs to get loaded into the bed of a truck, a rail car, or a tanker and sent on its way. We already have an available infrastructure available for its transportation. Second, it packs an absolute punch in terms of energy production. In a world so unbelievably thirsty of electricity, coal is an excellent source (ironically enough) to quench that thirst.
The recent (and still not completely realized) coal boom provides a stark contrast to years of industry neglect in the fight against global warming and cleaner forms of energy to invest in. This ultimately begs the question, will our clear reliance on coal and other fossil fuels also create avenues for investment into utilizing fossil fuels in a cleaner fashion?