DUBLIN (Commodity Online): As much as governments around the world would like to reduce dependency on this fossil fuel, it seems highly likely that the global consumption of coal is not going to go down any time soon. Coal remains one of the most popular sources of energy around the world even today, in spite of the environmental concerns revolving the burning and mining of coal, latest report from Research and Markets showed.
According to research, with coal being used primarily as a solid fuel around the world for the production of electricity and heat through combustion, it remains to be seen whether the use of clean coal technologies is going to make much of a difference in global greenhouse gas emissions or not.
With the US, Australia, India, China, and South Africa, being some of the leading producers and consumers of coal, coal is definitely here to stay as a major source of energy in both the developed as well as emerging economies. While there have been a lot of new developments in clean coal technologies, one can say for certain that coal, as a source of fuel and energy, is hardly ever going to go out of use.
Coal accounts for nearly 70% of China's total energy consumption. The development and production of the coal industry provides stability in China's economic growth. The world's largest coal producer and consumer, China's ''recovery rate'' for coal resources is just 30% - less than half the world average. China is soon to become the largest consumer of coal derived electricity as well. China's coal mining industry is one of the largest as well as the deadliest in terms of human safety standards as thousands of people lose their lives every year in coal pits itself.
China is ranked third in the world in terms of total coal reserves behind the United States and Russia. Most reserves are located in the north and north-west of the country, which poses a large logistical problem for supplying electricity to the more heavily populated coastal areas. China's own demand, together with tight global supplies and long-term projections of correspondingly firm coal prices all bode well for the Chinese coal sector. But if coal's central place in China's future remains a constant, there is less certainty as to the role foreign firms will be able to play.
