Global coal-fired electricity generation reached record highs in 2023

Since the Paris Agreement was signed in 2015, the U.S. has retired 95.6 gigawatts of coal-fired capacity. Meanwhile, China, India, Indonesia and Vietnam have added over 300 gigawatts of coal-fired capacity.

By Kevin Killough

Published: January 19, 2024 2:42pm

While the U.S. and Western Europe rapidly scale back coal-fired electricity generation, overall global use of coal hit new records in 2023.

Citing data from the environmental think tank Ember, Reuters reported that coal-fired power generation was at 8,295 terawatt hours through October 2023, which was up 1% from the same period in 2022.

The coal generation also produced record global emission. Through October 2023, the coal plants produced an increase of 66.7 million tons more than the same period in 2022, hitting a total of 7.85 billion tons, according to Reuters.

Total exports of thermal coal were just over 1 billion metric tons for all of 2023, which was a 6.6% increase from 2022, according to Kpler ship-tracking data.

Since the Paris Agreement was signed in 2015, the U.S. has retired 95.6 gigawatts of coal-fired capacity, according to the Energy Policy Research Foundation. Meanwhile, China, India, Indonesia and Vietnam have added over 300 gigawatts of coal-fired capacity.