A steep decline in coal emissions is essential to reach our climate goals Every pathway that avoids severe impacts from climate change involves early and significant reductions in coal‐related emissions. Coal is both the largest emitter of energyrelated global carbon dioxide (CO2) – 15 gigatonnes (Gt) in 2021 – and the largest source of electricity generation, accounting for 36% in 2021, and a significant fuel for industrial use.

Comprehensive, integrated policies addressing emissions from all sources are essential for climate action, but reducing emissions from coal needs to be a first‐order priority.

Coal transitions require a special focus because of coal’s high emissions intensity, growing competition from cost‐effective clean energy technologies like renewables, and deep links to jobs and development in coal‐producing regions. Coal is second only to oil in the global energy mix, and coal demand – far from declining – has been hovering at near‐record highs for the past decade. Today’s global energy crisis has led to modest increases in coal consumption in a number of countries, at least temporarily, mainly in response to sky‐high prices for natural gas. Continued high coal use is one of the most visible symbols of the challenge of aligning the world’s actions with its climate ambitions: more than 95% of current global coal consumption occurs in countries that have pledged to achieve net zero emissions.

This World Energy Outlook Special Report maps out how to achieve a rapid reduction in emissions from coal while maintaining affordable and secure energy supplies, and tackling the resulting consequences for workers and communities.

The new IEA Coal Transition Exposure Index highlights countries where coal dependency is high and transitions are likely to be most challenging: Indonesia, Mongolia, China, Viet Nam, India and South Africa stand out. A range of approaches, tailored to national circumstances, is essential for the power sector, where almost two‐thirds of global coal is consumed, and in the industry sector, which accounts for another 30%. The social implications are often concentrated in specific regions: coal mining typically accounts directly for less than 1% of national employment, but around 5‐8% in coal‐intensive regions such as Shanxi in China, East Kalimantan in Indonesia, and Mpumalanga in South Africa.

The geographical concentration of coal use marks it out from other globally‐used fuels: China accounts for over half of global coal demand and the share of all emerging market and developing economies exceeds 80%, up from half in 2000. China’s power sector, on its own, accounts for one‐third of global coal demand. China produces more than half of the world’s steel and cement, and so also plays a dominant role in coal use in industry. During this decade, emerging market and developing economies’ share of historical emissions from coal‐fired power generation will overtake that of advanced economies.