The World Coal Association (WCA) says global events in recent months have highlighted the fragility of the new energy paradigm, reminding the world of the need to advance energy independence and security.

Addressing the South African Colliery Managers Association on April 5, WCA CEO Michelle Manook said the complexity of the energy transition and how interconnected the global energy system is, was becoming clear.

She is an advocate for individual net-zero journeys and highlighted the need for every country to do what is best for them to reach energy security, and clean energy, gradually, without forsaking jobs and economic growth in the process.

Manook said two roads were laid out for the energy future at the moment – one encompassing overwhelmingly renewable energy generation, with a giant support base, believing that solar and wind power can fully replace all forms of fossil fuels and do so immediately.

The other road, however, remains less travelled and involves every fuel and every technology being included in reaching a net-zero emissions future – as envisioned in the Paris Climate Change Agreement.

Manook pointed out that the so-called “COP to end Coal” delivered a reality check for coal’s (and fossil fuel’s) energy transition, underscoring the need to move away from prescribed pathways and the importance of respecting sovereign choices and timeframes.

“This pathway should not be the road less travelled. From all our lessons in history, sovereignty and realism are key to sustainable outcomes.”

Manook said the Glasgow climate summit’s agreement to ‘phase-down unabated coal’, instead of phasing out coal, sent a clear message that developing economies need greater support to deploy coal abatement technologies to maintain economic growth and job creation.

She further remarked that the recent power crunch in Europe and China had highlighted the fragility of energy systems, forcing some of the assumptions around fossil fuels to be rapidly reconsidered – especially the equal consideration of supply security and energy affordability.

During October last year, Europe experienced shortages of baseload power (coal and liquefied natural gas), and underperforming wind power.

In the UK, coal-fired power was restarted to meet the shortfalls of wind power, which makes up 24% of capacity.

In Asia, stronger economic growth led to greater energy demand, particularly in China, where stockpiles ran low, and a ban on Australian coal in early 2021 started impacting on the grid, especially since China started relying on coal from Russia and Indonesia, the latter of which started experiencing dipped stockpiles.

“More than ever, we need to take a balanced, realistic, and integrated approach to our energy future, an approach which recognises the Energy Trilemma – affordability, sustainability and security.

Moreover, it reminds us that the trilemma will not be addressed without the acceptance of coal abatement technologies identified as part of the Paris Agreement.”

She concluded with a quote by German Economy Minister Robert Habeck who said that short term it may be that, "as a precaution and in order to be prepared for the worst, we have to keep coal-fired plants on standby and maybe even let them operate".

“The simple fact remains, coal is the world’s largest single source of electricity and will still be the biggest contributor in the fuel mix at 22% in 2030. It remains critical to the production of cement, steel and aluminium.

“There is no 100% credible scenario for renewables and, as good as they are, they still need coal.”