Coal news and updates

Emerging economies are being pushed to cut carbon emissions and adopt 'greener' energy sources, a challenge for the coal sector. However, says BENJAMIN SPORTON, chief executive, World Coal Association, industrialising countries will continue to push demand for some decades. Emerging economies would have to adopt clean coal technologies and efficient power production. Edited excerpts of a talk with Shreya Jai:

 

Global coal prices have lately faced a lot of fluctuation, mostly downward. Where are prices headed and how would that shape the industry?

 

Coal is a fuel in demand and will continue to be so. It is a reliable source for affordable electricity. As a commodity, it was going through a down-cycle and has recovered well. It might go down again and then recover. We probably see the current prices sustain for a little while yet. No one predicted where we are today and no one can predict where it will be next year.

 What variables across the globe would help a price correction for coal?

 

We have come off the period where prices have been low and hence there was less investment in supply. There have been some comebacks in supply in some cases and that has supported an increase in price, as demand continues to tick along quite strongly. When you look at the medium term, the prospect is that demand will continue to support reasonable prices. The economies of Southeast Asia, China and India would continue to have coal as an important part of their energy mix.

 

Globally, there have been reports of investors being wary of coal. What financing models would work for coal when everyone is going green?

 

We need to focus on what type of solution we are looking for. We are looking at an environmental solution and the problem is not coal but carbon emissions. We should be looking at investment in reducing carbon emissions and we need to invest in technologies for this, rather than saying we need to get out of coal. Coal is going to be a very important fuel in the energy mix for decades to come. It is also a key ingredient in making steel and cement and so, it is a key part of the industrialising and urbanising world. So, we need to invest in low emission technology than think of how to stay away from coal.

SOurce: Busienss Standerd