As a reference point, it noted how environmentalists “missed the point” in condemning last year’s International Coal and Climate Summit in Warsaw where global energy needs and climate ambitions were addressed as integrated priorities.
Coal has been the fastest growing fossil fuel for decades and its share of global primary energy consumption in 2013 reached 30.1% – the highest since 1970.
Under the International Energy Agency’s New Policies Scenario which accounts for all currently announced climate policies, coal demand is expected to grow from 3800 million tonnes of oil equivalent today to almost 4500MMtoe in 2035.
“With coal consumption in southeast Asia projected to grow at 4.8% a year to 2035 and millions of people looking to coal to combat energy poverty and address energy security concerns, it is clear that those looking to phase out coal are simply ignoring reality. Figures like that put to bed those who predict doom for the coal industry,” WCA CEO Milton Catelin said.
The Association referred to a new Carbon Tracker Initiative report this week that warned investors that plans for greenfield coal mines in the Galilee Basin that involve building new port terminals near the fragile coral ecosystem were among $US12 billion worth of coal projects that would be surplus to requirements if global demand slows down.
“While mining companies are counting on growth in demand from Asian emerging economies, China’s ‘anything but coal’ electricity strategy and energy efficiency efforts mean its demand for the black stuff could peak in 2016,” was the climate change activist site Responding to Climate Change’ summation of the report.
However, Catelin pointed out that when the world needs more energy and is turning to coal to meet that need then “anyone interested in reducing CO2 emissions in an affordable way needs to look toward cleaner coal technologies as part of the solution”.
“That’s why as part of last year’s summit we launched the Warsaw Communique which called on the international community to support deployment of high efficiency low emission coal-fired power plants,” Catelin said.
The global initiative aims to raise the average efficiency of the world’s coal fleet from its current 33% to 40% – “which can easily be achieved with off-the-shelf technology” – would save 2 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide emissions.
This is the equivalent of running the European Union’s Emissions Trading Scheme for 53 years at its current rate; running the Kyoto Protocol three times over; or multiplying the world’s current solar power capacity by 195 times.
“With that sort of impact on emissions, how could you not support improving the efficiency of the global coal fleet?” Catelin asked.
“Critically, high-efficiency plants are an important first step towards deployment of carbon capture and storage technology.”
WCA said environmentalists’ argument that CCS was a pipe-dream would be dealt a blow next week when Canada’s SaskPower launches its full-scale, commercially operated CCS plant, the first of its type in the world.
“The plant’s operators are sharing their experiences to help drive future deployment of CCS and achieve cost reductions in the technology by as much as 30%,” Catelin said.
Worse, Catelin warned that the ideological opposition to coal and CCS creates an economic and environmental risk, with analysis of the recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reports revealing that trying to achieve the 2C target without CCS could make climate action as much as 140% more expensive or worse make it impossible to achieve the 2C target.
Still, Catelin expressed doubts that the UN Climate Summit today would hear too much about the role cleaner coal technologies can play in achieving global climate ambitions.
“I also doubt we will hear much about how we can meet the needs of the 1.3 billion people who lack access to modern energy,” he added.
“Perhaps if there was a greater recognition about the realities of the world’s energy system and the technologies available to build an affordable, low emissions energy future, there might be a greater chance that today’s summit and Paris 2015 would actually lead to real progress.”
