The climate and energy crises have entered into competition. In retaliation for the sanctions imposed by the West after the invasion of Ukraine by the Russian army, Moscow cut off its gas tap to the European Union. Since then, Europeans have been afraid of running out of energy. To avoid power cuts, Germany and Austria have announced the relaunch of dormant coal-fired power stations. The Netherlands has reversed a law adopted five months earlier, which limited the operation of coal-fired power stations to 35% of their capacity. As for France, it confirmed, Sunday, June 24, that it planned to relaunch the coal-fired power station of Saint-Avold (Moselle) next winter.
Italy, Poland, Bulgaria, United Kingdom, Greece… In a few days, all reluctantly admitted to retaining the possibility of using coal, if necessary, the most devastating source of energy for the climate, in contradiction with their commitments in to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Even dressed in its embarrassing hero cape of the energy crisis, coal as an energy source remains the big villain of the climate crisis. A toxic best enemy that humanity fails to kill.
The most CO2-emitting energy source
Globally, energy is the sector that generates the most greenhouse gas emissions, as evidenced by data compiled by Our World in Data*. But this sector owes everything to coal. The combustion of this rock generates phenomenal energy, available in abundance and inexpensively. When its exploitation took off, at the very beginning of the 19th century in Great Britain, “this source of energy is intended to be ecological: there are hardly any forests left, and coal will make it possible to preserve them, explains historian François Jarrige. It also solves the problems of energy of hydraulic origin, subject to the vagaries of frost or drought. In short, he “allows you to free yourself from the constraints of the place where you are”.
The other side of the coin: during its combustion, coal, which is rich in carbon, emits carbon dioxide (CO2), a gas which is the main player in global warming. Over the decades, other fossil fuels are exploited, such as oil and gas, but none reach the degree of nuisance of coal. In 2021, coal thus retained the title of leading source of energy-related CO2 emissions, according to the International Energy Agency* (IEA), even though it was the second source of energy, just behind oil. Therefore, the IEA* blames him for the 6% increase in greenhouse gas emissions recorded last year. More coal was burned because “unfavorable weather and energy market conditions”, And this, “despite the strongest growth ever recorded by the production of renewable energy”. Of the additional 36.3 gigatonnes of CO2 emitted by the energy sector in 2021, coal alone generated 40%.
In addition to its combustion, mining also releases gases into the atmosphere that accelerate global warming. Looking at emissions from coal-fired power plants in Appalachia, the United States, the company Kayrros noted an increase in methane emissions, reported the washington post*. A few days earlier, another company tracking methane leaks via satellite, GHGSat, said it had identified a leak of nearly 90 tonnes of methane per hour at a mine in southern Russia. A common incident, according to the CEO of GHGSat, Stéphane Germain, quoted by CNN *. “Shows [de méthane] related to coal mines have increased significantly over the past year. We observed it in China, in Russia, in the United States, in Australia. And systematically, for us, this means that there is an increase in the production of coal”, he explained. However, the warming power of methane on the atmosphere is 80 times greater than that of CO2.
A fuel that the world cannot live without
For the International Group of Experts on the Climate* (IPCC), completely doing without the use of coal is an imperative to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. Armed with this knowledge, financial institutions*, countries or organizations regularly announce their intention to break away from coal. In 2021, for the first time in the history of climate negotiations, the COP21 agreement explicitly mentions fuel. But at the last minute, at India’s request, “going out of coal” becomes “reducing coal”. Because eliminating coal from the energy mix is not easy.
Despite the rhetoric, coal-fired power generation jumped 9% in 2021, according to the latest report from the Global Energy Monitor*. Admittedly, power stations have been closed – 25 gigawatt hours in total – but their disappearance is compensated by the production of new power stations under construction in China alone. And new facilities have sprung up in 34 countries. Une study published in May in the journal Energy Policy* revealed that 230 coal mines, including 93 in the planning stage, had the potential to release another 536.2 gigatonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere. Almost as much as the carbon budget allocated to humanity to hope to have a 50% chance of keeping temperatures below 1.5°C, according to IPCC calculations. Some 130 of these “climate bombs” are in China.
“In Europe, we feel like coal is ancient history. But paradoxically, coal consumption around the world has never increased as much as since its use was largely phased out here,” explains François Jarrige. The historian highlights the role of the French consumer in global coal emissions. This fuel has certainly disappeared from our landscapes, but “As soon as we import a good made in China, we also import the coal that was used to manufacture it. Coal is omnipresent in our daily lives in an indirect way.”
A refuge resource in times of war
“The use of coal has always been propelled by war, whether it was the Civil War in the United States or the First World War”enumerates Francois Jarrige. Already in 1914, laws adopted to limit the use of coal had been abandoned to allow industries to meet the increased demand for energy, notes the historian. In 2022, the fear of running out of electricity after the Russian energy tap is shut off puts the commitments of States on hold, all over the world. “On the European side, we no longer think from a climate point of view in this time of war”confirms Damien Ernst, professor at the University of Liège and energy specialist, quoted by the RTBF. “Europe wants to save its economy at all costs. The priorities are elsewhere and we are no longer going to worry about the climate.
Without these geopolitical upheavals with serious consequences, “en France, we would never have imagined going back on the closure of a coal-fired power plant”, illustrates François Jarrige. However, here as with our neighbours, the executive promises that the return “temporary” coal will have no impact on the fight against CO2 emissions. “The exit from coal in 2030 is not wavering at all”, assures a German official, commenting on the extension of power plants in operation “until 2024”. In France, the possible restart of the Saint-Avold site “fits into the closure plan” coal-fired power plants, a plan that “remains unchanged”, for the Ministry of Ecological Transition. Not a retreat, just a step aside.
A mineral that forged our way of life
These difficulties in drawing a line under this ore reveal our dependence on abundant and cheap energy without which the world in which we live would not have been possible. “Coal has shaped consumption practices, it initiated industrialization. Our most intimate, most ordinary, most everyday ways of life are linked to this energy or depend on this fuel”, continues François Jarrige. According to the historian, “For two centuries, we have been living under the illusion that we will always have a source of energy (…) widely available and that the goal of the game is to invent tools that allow us to better exploit it to generate profits”by trying to combat the nuisances associated with coal.
From the 19th century, in a Great Britain with cities invaded by smogpollution fog, “we propose technical solutions to make coal acceptable, despite the doubts and protests that have always accompanied the use of this fuel”, Explain Francois Jarrige. “We build taller chimneys, to push the smoke further, so that it is diluted” above our heads. “Later, we develop filters”, hoping to make the coal more “own”.
“With global warming, we have understood that the quantity of CO2 released has upset major physical balances. This observation is accompanied by the reactivation of the myth of the technological solution, such as carbon capture.”
François Jarrige, historianat franceinfo
Gold, “history shows that the benefits are always accompanied by rebound effects [une hausse de la consommation énergétique]perverse effects [les solutions se révèlent plus énergivores que prévu] and consequences that we discover later”, he continues, pointing out that no energy source can offer such performance without an environmental counterpart. As for the alternatives that are sobriety or decrease, they require “more than a questioning of a technical model. We are talking about our relationship to the world, even our conception of happiness.”
* Links followed by an asterisk are in English.