Coal Demand Rises, But Remains Below Peak Levels

This article is the third in a series on BP’s recently-released Statistical Review of World Energy 2019. The Review provides a comprehensive picture of supply and demand for major energy sources on a country-level basis.

In the first article of the series, I discussed the trends in global carbon dioxide emissions. In the second article, I went over the supply and demand picture for petroleum.

Today, I want to cover the production and consumption of coal.

The previous article on carbon dioxide emissions noted that the world is at an all-time high for carbon emissions. The biggest culprit is global consumption of coal, which is being largely driven by development in the Asia Pacific region.

In 2018, global coal consumption rose for the second straight year, but remains about 2.5% below the peak level in 2013. Asia Pacific coal consumption did reach a new all-time high, but consumption growth there has sharply slowed from the torrid pace of 2000-2010.

Coal consumption – Global and Asia Pacific

Coal consumption in most of the developing world continues to grow. Asia Pacific increased consumption by the most overall, but its 2.5% growth rate lagged Africa’s (+3.9%) and Central and South America (+3.7%).

In the major developed regions of the world (including developed countries in Asia Pacific), coal consumption continues to decline. Coal consumption in the EU has been in decline since 1989, and U.S. coal consumption has steadily fallen for a decade.