Why It's Premature to Declare Coal Dead

Coal’s story across the world is a study in contrasts:  up sharply in some places and down in others.  From a climate perspective, there is no simple characterization of the global status of coal, other than to say that overall, the world is still burning far too much of it.  A few indicators point to a global slowdown in coal, but it’s unclear whether that can happen fast enough to meet global climate change emissions targets.

A recent post at this site covered the downturn of the American coal market as a result of cheaper and cleaner alternatives.  Although the U.S. is a major player in global energy, trends in American coal do not necessarily dictate or match what’s happening elsewhere in the world.  It’s premature to say, as some do, that coal is dead.

Read on for highlights, distilled into eight data-rich graphics.  Some of them may be surprising.

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