Coal power sets record growth in 2021

MANILA, Philippines — Coal power set a growth record in 2021, with the  Philippines ranking 15th in terms of  coal share in electricity generation.

As this also pushed power sector CO2 emissions to rise to an all-time high record, clean power needs to be built on a substantial scale to meet global emissions reduction targets, according to the latest report of independent, not-for-profit climate and energy think tank Ember.

In Ember’s third annual Global Electricity Review, electricity demand rebounded to the largest ever annual increase to 1,414 terawatt-hours (TWh).

The Asian region reflected the highest demand growth as economic growth boomed.

Despite record growth in wind and solar generation, they only met 29 percent of the global increase in electricity demand, with the rest met by fossil fuels.

This resulted in coal power registering the fastest growth since at least 1985, rising by nine percent to a new all-time high of 10,042 TWh. On the other hand, global gas generation increased by only one percent.

Ember also said coal records were set throughout Asia, where electricity demand boomed, with China leading the trend as it recorded the fifth year of setting a new coal power record.

The report showed that the Philippines saw an eight percent jump in coal power generation and ranked 15th in terms of the coal share of electricity generation.

“Most countries in Asia are seeing rapid demand growth, so although absolute coal generation is increasing, the proportion of electricity from coal is actually falling,” Ember said in the report.

Overall, the increase in fossil fuels pushed global power sector CO2 emissions to an all-time high of over 12 billion tons of CO2, beating the previous record in 2018 by three percent. Half of the CO2 emissions rise was from China.

The report said power sector CO2 emissions were 10 percent higher than in 2015, when the Paris Agreement was signed.

Ember said the emissions growth is in sharp contrast to what is needed for the International Energy Agency’s 1.5 degrees pathway of a 60 percent fall in power sector emissions from 2021 to 2030.

To meet the 1.5 degree target, the think tank said coal power must fall by 13 percent every year this decade, reducing its share of global electricity from 36 percent last year to eight percent by 2030.

“Clean electricity now needs to be built on a heroic scale.  Leaders are only just waking up to the challenge of how quickly they need to move 100 percent clean electricity,” Ember’s global lead Dave Jones said.

Helping meet the 1.5 degree target is the sustained development of wind and solar to compound growth rates of 20 percent every year to 2030, which was the average rate of growth over the last decade, the report said.

This as wind and solar saw the fastest growth last year, accounting for 10 percent of global electricity.

The report also revealed that 50 countries generated more than a tenth of their electricity from wind and solar, including all five of the world’s largest economies.

Across the world, the share of wind and solar has doubled since 2015 when the Paris Agreement was signed.

In terms of overall renewable energy, the report said clean sources generated 38 percent of the world’s electricity last year, more than that of coal at 36 percent.

“Wind and solar have arrived. The process that will reshape the existing energy system has begun. This decade they need to be deployed at lightning speed to reverse global emissions increases and tackle climate change,” Jones said.