Page 4 - AsiaElec Week 15 2021

AsiaElec COMMENTARY AsiaElec

Major economies still

reliant on coal

China, India, the US and Japan dominated coal generation in
2020, and they must take the lead in reducing emissions

ASIA JUST four countries, China, India, the US and Up and down
Japan, generated 76%, or 6,626 TWh, of the None of the four top placed countries moved
WHAT: world’s coal-fired electricity in 2020, putting the position in 2020. The biggest faller was Germany,
China, India, the US and onus on them to accelerate the move away from dropping from 7th place in 2019 to 11th place in
Japan generated 76% of coal. 2020, putting it below Indonesia, Russia, Viet-
the world’s coal power China was the largest coal generator, with nam and Australia.
in 2020 4,631 TWh, representing 61% of the country’s German coal generation fell by 22% (-37
total output. Next was India with 947 TWh TWh) year on year. The country achieved a new
WHY: (71%), then the US with 774 TWh (19%) and milestone in 2020, with wind and solar generat-
All saw coal’s share Japan with 274 TWh (29%). ing more electricity than coal. However, it still
falling, but not by enough The recently published Global Electricity remains Europe’s top coal power country.
Review, produced by think-tank Ember, found The major movers up the rankings were all
WHAT NEXT: that coal generation fell by 4% in 2020, although from Asia. Vietnam moved into the top 10 for
China is key, as its coal the fuel still accounts for 34% of global power, or the first time, up from 12th place last year and
output rose in absolute 8,736 TWh. now overtaking Australia and Germany.
terms. Large coal However, coal generation must fall by 14% In 2020, coal generated 53% of Vietnam’s
generators must take the every year if the world is to achieve net zero electricity (141 TWh), up from 51% in 2019 (133
initiative in meeting the by 2050. Furthermore, the Global Electricity TWh).
Paris Agreement targets Review warned, OECD countries must stop Taiwan replaced Poland as the world’s 12th
burning coal for power by 2030, and the rest of largest coal power country. Taiwan’s coal-pow-
the world by 2040. ered electricity increased by 1 TWh from 2019 to
China was responsible for 53% of global coal- 2020, while Poland decreased by 9 TWh. Poland
fired power generation in 2020, although it saw is now the 13th largest coal power country in the
a slight decrease in coal’s share of electricity pro- world.
duction, from 62% in 2019 to 61% in 2020. The report noted that South Africa, which
However, in absolute terms, coal generation took sixth place with 191 TWh (86% of total
increased from 4,554 TWh in 2019 to 4,631 output), remained very reliant on coal power,
TWh in 2020 as China’s electricity demand con- and was the most coal-reliant major country in
tinued to rise. the world.
It was the only G20 country that saw a large Ember observed that the five-year trend
increase in coal generation in 2020. revealed that coal power was in decline across
many OECD coal countries, including the US,

P4 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 15 14•April•2021