In recent years, world leaders and leading environmentalists have predicted “the end of coal,” with charts showing how the world’s most polluting fossil fuel has plummeted in use and production in the U.S. and Europe over the last few decades.
Yet coal remains the world’s single largest power source, generating 36% of global power in 2022. And its use has actually increased in Europe and the U.S. in recent years, with U.S. coal production rising almost 8% from 2020 to 2021 and almost 3% from 2021 to 2022. U.S. coal consumption increased 14.5% from 2020 to 2021. Carbon dioxide from coal use is responsible for about 40% of global greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels.
