The World Has Built More Coal Power In 2025, But Has Utilised Lesser.

May 2026: According to a news report from Global Energy Monitor (GEM) which has deplored coal power for a decade has reiterated that the world has built and commissioned more coal power in 2025, but used the polluting fuel less, with the United States being the only major economy to substantially increase its generation.

Coal is a key contributor to planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions, and phasing it out is crucial to taming climate change. The growing affordability and abundance of renewable energy means solar and wind power can now cover growing electricity demand in much of the world. That helped push coal generation down globally by 0.6% in 2025 from a year earlier, the report said.

But despite the generation drop, coal power capacity, plants that came online or were commissioned — jumped 3.5% last year. The overwhelming majority of that which is almost 95%, was commissioned in China and in India, GEM said.

China’s coal capacity grew 06% last year, but coal-powered electricity generation fell 1.2%, in part because of soaring renewable capacity. The same was relevant in India, where capacity grew almost 04%, even as generation fell nearly 03%.

In both the countries, “many of the provinces and states leading coal development are major coal-producing regions”, said Christine Shearer, project manager of GEM’s Global Coal Plant Tracker and author of the report. They have “strong industrial incentives to keep building coal”, she told media reporters.

China is the world’s top emitter, and sees coal as a reliable failsafe for intermittent renewable supply, particularly for after power shortages several years ago; while India ranks third, behind the United States, is the world’s most populous country leaning heavily on coal to meet soaring electricity demand.

Renewable energy keeps getting cheaper, and it is not as easily interrupted as coal and oil, which often have to be transported long distances before use. Many countries are developing solar energy as quickly as possible, which is a boon to Chinese manufacturers. China is the world leader in solar energy development. Other countries should develop their own solar manufacturing industries as quickly as practical, but in the meantime, there is no choice but to rely on Chinese factories and expertise.

So, to summarize, while hydrocarbons are what we have come to rely on for more than a hundred years, they are damaging to the environment and to our health, they are more expensive than renewables such as solar and wind, and the supply lines for hydrocarbons are increasingly less reliable. Also, China has intelligently positioned itself as the world leader in supplying renewable hardware, so trade tariffs are self-defeating.

But coal’s persistence is also the result of infrastructure issues. Non-fossil fuels already account for 50% of India’s installed capacity, but infrastructure and other issues mean the country still generates around three-quarters of its electricity from coal.

Globally, the ‘phasing-out’ of coal power also slowed last year, with nearly 70% of units that were due to end operations instead staying online, GEM said. In Europe, those missed targets were linked primarily to decisions taken during the 2022-23 energy crisis caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

In the United States however, phasing-out delays were due to a government push for coal, said Shearer. “U.S. coal-fired generation rose by more than 80 TWh (terawatt hours) year-on-year, a figure so large that no other country came close”, she said. The surge “was not simply a function of (demand) growth, it reflected a policy environment that actively encouraged it”, she added. It was President Donald Trump who had signed an Executive Order (EO) to use coal, while blocking wind turbines.

Taking into consideration – California, where almost no coal is burnt (less than 1/2%), and often get most of their electricity from renewable sources. Back in the year 2000 they got about 20% of their electricity from burning coal in-state, but gradually they have made great strides forward, in learning to take steps away from it.

The energy crisis sparked by the US-Israeli war with Iran has seen some countries turn back to coal, reactivating idle coal units or delaying retirements.

In China, coal-fired power generation also jumped in the first part of the year, in part due to “underperformance” by wind and nuclear. “But the oversupply and favoritism of coal power is an important factor”, added Lauri Myllyvirta, co-founder of the Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air, and contributor to the report. While figures from May suggest China’s coal generation may have dropped again, “the problem of excess coal capacity and entrenched favoritism of coal in the grid remain”, he told reporters.

Globally, coal-fired generation has risen 0.3% so far this year, Shearer said, while wind and solar generation has jumped 10%. “Clean energy is absorbing most of the world’s new electricity demand, with coal barely growing at all”, she said.

Team Maverick.