Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is a type of fossil fuel, formed when dead plant matter decays into peat which is converted into coal by the heat and pressure of deep burial over millions of years. Vast deposits of coal originate in former wetlands called coal forests that covered much of the Earth's tropical land areas during the late Carboniferous (Pennsylvanian) and Permian times.
Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground or from a mine. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from iron ore and for cement production. In the United Kingdom and South Africa, a coal mine and its structures are a colliery, a coal mine is called a "pit", and above-ground mining structures are referred to as a "pit head". In Australia, "colliery" generally refers to an underground coal mine.
Coal is mined in every state of Australia. The largest black coal resources occur in Queensland and New South Wales. About 70% of coal mined in Australia is exported, mostly to eastern Asia, and of the balance most is used in electricity generation. In 2019-20 Australia exported 390 Mt of coal and was the world's largest exporter of metallurgical coal and second largest exporter of thermal coal. While only employing 50,000 mining jobs nationally coal provides a rich revenue stream for governments.
China is both the world's largest energy consumer and the largest industrial country, and ensuring adequate energy supply to sustain economic growth has been a core concern of the Chinese Government since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949. Since the country's industrialization in the 1960s, China is currently the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases, and coal in China is a major cause of global warming. However, from 2010 to 2015 China reduced energy consumption per unit of GDP by 18%, and CO2 emissions per unit of GDP by 20%. On a per-capita basis, China was only the world's 51st largest emitter of greenhouse gases in 2016. China is also the world's largest renewable energy producer, and the largest producer of hydroelectricity, solar power and wind power in the world. The energy policy of China is connected to its industrial policy, where the goals of China's industrial production dictate its energy demand managements.
A coal-fired power station or coal power plant is a thermal power station which burns coal to generate electricity. Worldwide there are over 2,400 coal-fired power stations, totaling over 2,130 gigawatts capacity. They generate about a third of the world's electricity, but cause many illnesses and the most early deaths, mainly from air pollution. World installed capacity doubled from 2000 to 2023 and increased 2% in 2023.
China is the world's leader in electricity production from renewable energy sources, with over triple the generation of the second-ranking country, the United States. China's renewable energy sector is growing faster than its fossil fuels and nuclear power capacity, and is expected to contribute 43% of global renewable capacity growth. China's total renewable energy capacity exceeded 1,000 GW in 2021, accounting for 43.5 per cent of the country's total power generation capacity, 10.2 percentage points higher than in 2015. The country aims to have 80 per cent of its total energy mix come from non-fossil fuel sources by 2060, and achieve a combined 1,200 GW of solar and wind capacity by 2030. In 2023, it was reported that China was on track to reach 1,371 gigawatts of wind and solar by 2025, five years ahead of target due to new renewables installations breaking records. In 2024, it was reported that China would reach its target by the end of July 2024, six years ahead of target.
Energy in Kazakhstan describes energy and electricity production, consumption and import in Kazakhstan and the politics of Kazakhstan related to energy.
The Energy in Russia is an area of the national economy, science, and technology of the Russian Federation, encompassing energy resources, production, transmission, transformation, accumulation, distribution, and consumption of various types of energy.
China is the largest producer and consumer of coal and coal power in the world. The share of coal in the Chinese energy mix declined to 55% in 2021 according to the US Energy Information Agency.
Vietnam is a dynamic developing economy with a relatively high growth rate. The energy sector plays a key role in promoting the country's socio-economic development. Vietnam has a diverse energy fuel resource of various types such as coal, natural gas, petroleum, hydropower and renewables such as solar and wind energy. The country has recently been successful in renewable energy deployment, especially solar and wind power development. Coal has been the key power generation source since 2018. Coal accounted for about 30% of installed capacity and 47% of electricity generation in 2021 The high use of coal makes Vietnam an increasingly important emitter of carbon dioxide, contributing to climate change.
Coal mining is an industry in transition in the United States. Production in 2019 was down 40% from the peak production of 1,171.8 million short tons in 2008. Employment of 43,000 coal miners is down from a peak of 883,000 in 1923. Generation of electricity is the largest user of coal, being used to produce 50% of electric power in 2005 and 27% in 2018. The U.S. is a net exporter of coal. U.S. coal exports, for which Europe is the largest customer, peaked in 2012. In 2015, the U.S. exported 7.0 percent of mined coal.
Energy in Australia is the production in Australia of energy and electricity, for consumption or export. Energy policy of Australia describes the politics of Australia as it relates to energy.
As of 2011, South Africa produces in excess of 255 million tonnes of coal and consumes almost three-quarters of that domestically. As of 2018, South Africa was the seventh largest producer and consumer of coal in the world. The industry, as of 2015, employs about 80,000 workers, or .5% of total employment, down from a peak in 1981 of 135,000 workers. The coal industry is South Africa's largest contribution to the greenhouse gases that cause climate change.
Between 2009 and 2014, gas consumption, production, and imports in China have grown dramatically, with two-digit growth. According to CNPC, the installed capacity of gas-fired power plants in the country is expected to reach around 138 million-154 million kilowatts in 2025, and further grow to 261 million-308 million kilowatts by 2030.
In 2019, the total energy production in Indonesia is 450.79 million tonnes of oil equivalent, with a total primary energy supply of 231.14 million tonnes of oil equivalent and electricity final consumption of 263.32 terawatt-hours. From 2000 to 2021, Indonesia's total energy supply increased by nearly 60%.
Primary energy use in Slovakia was 194 TWh and 36 TWh per million inhabitants in 2009.
Coal in Europe is a term describing the use of coal as an energy source in Europe, including both thermal coal used for power generation and coking coal used for steel production.
Coal in Poland is partly mined and partly imported. 144 million metric tons of coal was mined in 2012, providing 55 percent of that country's primary energy consumption. Poland is the second-largest coal-mining country in Europe, after Germany, and the ninth-largest coal producer in the world. The country consumes nearly all the coal it mines, and is no longer a major coal exporter.
China's greenhouse gas emissions are the largest of any country in the world both in production and consumption terms, and stem mainly from coal burning, including coal power, coal mining, and blast furnaces producing iron and steel. When measuring production-based emissions, China emitted over 14 gigatonnes (Gt) CO2eq of greenhouse gases in 2019, 27% of the world total. When measuring in consumption-based terms, which adds emissions associated with imported goods and extracts those associated with exported goods, China accounted for 13 gigatonnes (Gt) or 25% of global emissions in 2019. According to the Carbon Majors Database, Chinese state coal production alone accounts for 14% of historic global emissions.
East Mining Company (EMCO), written in Russian Vostochnaya Mining Company (VGK) is the coal mining enterprise in Sakhalin Oblast with a full cycle for the extraction and shipment of solid fuel. The company's key production assets are Solntsevsky Coal Mine LLC, Coal Sea Port of Shakhtersk LLC and North-Eastern Coal Company LLC. At the end of 2016, the company was ranked 26th among the largest coal mining companies in Russia. The company is one of top-10 coal exporters in Russia.
