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Banks haven't quit coal. Study says commercial lenders have channeled $1.5 trillion to the industry since 2019
PUBLISHED TUE, FEB 15 2022 1:24 AM ESTUPDATED 2 HOURS AGO
Sam Meredith
@SMEREDITH19
WATCH LIVE
KEY POINTS
Financial institutions from just six countries — the U.S., China, Japan, India, Canada and the U.K. — were found to be responsible for over 80% of coal financing and investment between January 2019 and November last year.Coal is the most carbon-intensive fossil fuel in terms of emissions and therefore the most critical target for replacement in the transition to renewable alternatives.Yet, even as policymakers and business leaders repeatedly tout their commitment to the so-called "energy transition," the world's fossil fuel dependency remains on track to get even worse.
A bulldozer pushes coal onto a conveyor belt at the Jiangyou Power Station on January 28, 2022 in Jiangyou, Mianyang City, Sichuan Province of China.
Liu Zhongjun | China News Service | Getty Images
LONDON — Banks and investors have channeled massive sums of money to support the coal industry in recent years, according to new research, propping up the world's dirtiest fossil fuel at a time when humanity is facing a climate emergency.
Analysis published Tuesday by campaign groups Urgewald and Reclaim Finance, alongside more than two dozen other NGOs, found that commercial banks channeled $1.5 trillion to the coal industry between January 2019 and November
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Rare earth elements for smartphones can be extracted from coal waste
Recycling rare earth elements from the ash left over from coal burning is cheaper, easier and more environmentally friendly than digging them out of mines
ENVIRONMENT
February 9, 2022 19:00
By Alice Klein
A microscope image of tiny glass spheres in coal fly ash that contain rare earth elements
Rare earth elements that are vital to smartphones and electric vehicles can now be extracted from coal waste instead of being dug out of the ground.
Neodymium, europium, terbium and other rare earth metals that were once barely heard of are now commonplace in phone touchscreens, electric vehicle motors, wind turbines and other modern technologies due to their useful magnetic and electronic properties. Mining them is expensive and inefficient, since large areas of land must be dug up to extract small amounts.
James Tour at Rice University in Houston, Texas, and his colleagues have come up with a way to recycle these metals from fly ash, a fine black powder that is left over when coal is burned in power plants.
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IEA: Europe’s Gas Demand Set To Decline In Favor Of Coal
oilprice.com
Europe’s natural gas demand is set to decline this year as buyers begin to favor lower-priced coal, the International Energy Agency said in the latest edition of its quarterly gas market report.
According to the IEA, gas demand on the continent is seen declining by 4 percent this year, after rising by more than 5 percent last year. The decline will be partially driven by a reduction in gas burning in the power sector, the agency said, which is seen declining by 6 percent this year.
The decline will be partially compensated by renewables, according to the IEA, which should see a “strong expansion” this year, but also “high gas prices continue to weigh on its competitiveness vis-à-vis coal-fired generation.”
“Exceptionally high gas – and by extension electricity – prices have hurt consumers, utilities and wholesalers, and are likely to have a lasting negative impact beyond the current seasonal tension,” the agency warned, adding that the adverse effects of the gas shortage were not limited to Europe.
The report noted that developing markets were particularly vulnerable to energy supply shocks that they were already experiencing. On top of this, there was also concern for food supply due to tighter availability of gas-based fertilizers, the International Energy Agency also said.
Global gas supply is seen remaining tight, the IEA also said, citing production outages, project delays, and a slow pace of new investment decisions on new production capacity.
“In the absence of strong policies to curb demand growth to achieve net zero emission targets, gas supply adequacy could emerge as a concern for the medium term on a combination of recent LNG project delays, the relatively small number of new LNG final investment decisions (FIDs) in 2020-2021 and a structural decline in upstream spending since the early 2010s,” the IEA said in the report.
By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com
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Indonesia to allow only compliant firms to restart coal exports when ban ends, says official
www.channelnewsasia.com
JAKARTA: Only coal miners compliant with Indonesia's new regulations on domestic market sales will be cleared to restart shipments when a coal export ban expires next week, with 171 miners approved so far, a ministerial advisor said on Thursday (Jan 27).
Those given the green light had either complied fully with a Domestic Market Obligation (DMO) on sales to the local market or agreed to pay fines, while many other miners were still being assessed, said Irwandy Arif, an advisor to the energy minister.
His remarks indicate no wholesale resumption of shipments from the world's biggest thermal coal exporter after the Jan. 31 expiry of the ban, which Indonesia abruptly imposed at New Year to boost coal stocks at power plants and avert widespread outages.
"Currently, the DMO must absolutely be met by every coal mining business license holder and is an important requirement for business entities to be able to export," Irwandy told an online seminar.
The DMO stipulates miners must sell a quarter of their output locally, at a price no higher than $70 per tonne for power generators.
There are about 600 coal mining companies in Indonesia.
A new, more stringent regulation on DMO compliance took effect Jan. 19, requiring monthly reporting and warning of fines, suspensions and scope for license revocation.
Irwandy later confirmed to Reuters that those updated regulations on the DMO must still be met, even after the ban on coal exports is lifted.
At Thursday's seminar, senior ministry official Ridwan Djamaludin said the government would see by the end of the month how many firms could meet the requirements.
He said at least eight countries had reached out during January requesting the ban be lifted, he said, and Indonesia recognised the importance of easing the ban in certain cases.
"We don't want them feel that doing business with Indonesia is uncertain, so when the ships were ready to leave and they have been paid for, they were prioritised," he said.
"We do try to maintain balance."
The chief of State utility Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN) on Wednesday said February's coal supply had been secured and there would be no repeat of the crisis that came close to causing major power outages.
Rich you are 100% right very well said,unfortunately for us as humans we will continue to burn coal for many of years making lots of cash for tga that is the reason why we are invested. Personally I think more countries will burn coal in the future as its the cheapest
Indonesia’s New Year gift to China: all coal exports suspended!
tfiglobalnews.com
It’s a new year! 2022 has ushered in with it a lot of hope for people around the world. For Chinese citizens, the new year has brought with it gloom, uncertainty and the looming threat of major blackouts. You see, China is an energy-starved nation. Its powerplants are perpetually in a crisis mode, since the communist nation never seems to really have sufficient supplies of coal to fuel its power sector with. In November 2021, China’s coal imports hit their highest level, as the onset of winter began giving people extreme chills. With the winter season now in full force, Chinese citizens now stare at the prospect of freezing.
Indonesia has just put a freeze on all coal exports! The suspension of coal exports will be in force for the whole of January, and may be extended if need be. This is nothing short of a full-blown crisis for China. Without Indonesian coal supplies, China will once again be gripped by an unforgiving shortage of the fossil fuel. Even if Indonesia resumes exports by February, the cascading effect of coal shortfall for China will disrupt normal life in the communist nation for a long time.
Indonesia goes “New Year, New Me”
Indonesia’s new year gift to China is savage. Ridwan Djamaluddin, Indonesia’s director general of minerals and coal said in a statement, “When coal supply to power plants are fulfilled then all return to normal, exports will resume. We will evaluate everything after January 5.” Indonesia is just trying to protect its own interests and energy security. The Southeast Asian country is itself faced by a whammy of sorts, and power plants risk running out of coal to produce electricity with.
Also read: Indonesia ropes in Russia and Britain to fight China’s claims in the Natuna Sea
Djamaluddin added, “Why is everyone banned from exporting? It’s beyond us and it’s temporary. If the ban isn’t enforced, almost 20 power plants with the power of 10,850 megawatts will be out. If strategic actions aren’t taken, there could be a widespread blackout.”
The widespread export ban may disrupt monthly coal production volumes of around 38-40 million tonnes. Export trends of previous years have shown that Indonesia sends out approximately 30 million tonnes of coal every January, and a significant portion of the same goes China’s way. In fact, as luck would have it, Indonesia is China’s biggest coal supplier. For it to suspend exports of the fossil fuel has quite literally paved the way for China to be paralysed.
Late last year, China struck a three-year deal with Indonesian miners for $1.5 billion of the fuel, as Beijing sought long-term options to displace Australian supplies. According to Bloomberg, demand for Indonesian coal has been kept strong due to China’s tremendous appetite for the fossil fuel, even as demand from India weakens. India is growing self-sufficient in the energy sector and has enough domestic resources to