India Drove a Worldwide Jump in New Coalmining Proposals Last Year, Even As Global Demand for the Fossil Fuel Plateaus, According to a New

Enough new projects were proposed to increase global supplies by 2.5bn tonnes a year, an 11% rise from the previous year. The increase was driven almost entirely by the states of Jharkhand and Odisha, which doubled their proposals for new coalmines in line with an ambitious plan from India's ministry of coal to boost output. India plans to raise its coal production by nearly 100m tonnes to 1.15bn tonnes in the 2025-26 fiscal year to meet rising electricity demand for economic growth and contend with heatwaves, which have become more severe and frequent because of the climate crisis.

The findings come from Global Energy Monitor, an NGO, which said the planned increases come despite signs that the world is beginning to turn away from coal in favour of renewable electricity. Coalmine proposals slowed after the Covid-19 pandemic but have begun climbing again, raising concerns that mining could expand despite a slowdown in new facility openings. The startup of new coalmining projects has fallen steadily in recent years.

Enough new coalmines to produce about 113m tonnes each year began operations last year, down 40% from 2024, which was already the lowest annual total in a decade. This was largely due to a slowdown in new mines in China and Australia, which fell by 44% and 96% respectively. Global Energy Monitor warned that India's rise in proposals is at odds with the slowdown in global coal demand predicted by the International Energy Agency for the end of the decade.

Wind and solar power surpassed coal generation in the global electricity mix for the first time last year, according to a separate report from energy thinktank Ember, in a "milestone moment" for climate action. China and India were largely responsible for the rise in renewables, while the US and Europe continued to rely more heavily on fossil fuels. Tiffany Means, a senior researcher at Global Energy Monitor and co-author of the report, said: The economic rationale for expanding coalmining becomes progressively weaker as low-cost clean energy continues to displace coal. Rather than locking in decades of additional coal production, governments have an opportunity to cancel projects that remain in the development pipeline before they advance to construction.