The group cited comments made in the report by IEA head Maria van der Hoeven, who it said implied the globe should look to gas and reduce coal demand in order to meet the objectives of climate change.

The IEA report also forecast a growing role for coal in the world’s energy supply over the next five years, and the potential for it to overtake oil as the world’s biggest supplier of primary energy.

“Unfortunately, many still only see coal use through the lens of climate change,” WCA chief executive Milton Catelin said.

“They lament the increasing role coal has in meeting the world’s ever-growing energy needs because of the associated carbon emissions. From today’s launch of the MCMR, it seems…Maria van der Hoeven is firmly within this group.”

Catelin noted the IEA leader’s comments highlighted carbon emissions reductions and meeting climate objectives worldwide, but “appears to completely ignore the importance of coal” to meeting the objectives of global energy access.

“These two global challenges, energy access and climate change should be treated as integrated priorities,” he said.

“Governments, the international community and the IEA need to recognize that the increasing demand for coal means they must treat it as part of the climate solution, not part of the problem.”

He concurred with van der Hoeven’s comments that the industry needed to “get serious” about deploying carbon capture and storage for gas and coal.

However, Catelin said a much more effective, affordable and immediate action could be taken to support the deployment of high-efficiency, low-emission coal-fired power plants.

“The IEA’s own research has shown that deploying modern, highly efficient coal plants can reduce CO2 emissions by as much as 30% from coal-fired power generation and it can do this at a much lower cost than renewable energies,” he said.

“That means there are huge economic and climate benefits from building more efficient coal-fired power stations.”

Catelin called for the addition of a development filter to what he called a “climate lens” when looking at coal’s role in the energy mix of the world, and said the IEA’s report was good news for the developing world in meeting those challenges.

“But there is good news, too, when it comes to coal’s role in meeting global climate ambitions,” he said.

“It’s time for this role to be recognized.”