News To Hear This Earth Day: Coal Market Supports Green Infrastructure Plan

America’s President Biden has laid out a $2 trillion infrastructure plan to shift the country to greener energies over the next decade , and oddly enough, players in the coal industry are backing this plan that would seem to contradict their interests. As per TBRC’s coal research report, generally, the factors that could hinder the growth of the coal market in the future include a continuous shift to alternative sources for power generation, environmental impacts of coal, skills shortages in the coal mining industry and the mining industry overall, and reductions in free trade.

With Biden’s ‘American Jobs Plan’, infrastructure rebuilding in terms of bridges, airports, ports, and such will require a large demand for steel, which includes coal as a significant constituent. This, among other infrastructure needs and changes, will bring about more job opportunities for those in the coal mining industry , which is why the plan is being backed by climate activist groups and coal industry unions alike.

As per data on the Global Market Model, Asia Pacific is the largest region in the global coal market, accounting for 85% of the market in 2020. North America is the second largest region accounting for 4% of the global market. The Middle East is the smallest region in the global coal market.

The global coal market is expected to grow from $705.8 billion in 2020 to $786.64 billion in 2021 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11.5%. The growth is mainly due to the companies rearranging their operations and recovering from the COVID-19 impact, which had earlier led to restrictive containment measures involving social distancing, remote working, and the closure of commercial activities that resulted in operational challenges. The market is expected to reach $962.88 billion in 2025 at a CAGR of 5%.

Going forward, a growing share of coal in power generation mainly in developing countries, government policies providing subsidies and encouraging foreign direct investments, economic growth in emerging markets and changes in government policies favoring the mining industry will drive growth of the market.

High efficiency low emissions (HELE) technologies are a group of diverse technologies developed to increase the efficiencies of coal-fired power plants and reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, as well as non-GHG emissions such as nitrogen oxide (NOx), sulphur dioxide (SO2) and particulate matter (PM). HELE technologies are critical to achieving global climate goals and sustainable development. HELE coal technologies are operating throughout the world and being deployed commercially in Germany, Italy, India, South Korea, Japan, Poland, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Slovenia, the USA, Australia, South Africa and China.