Tag: coal

At least 31 dead in Iran coal mine blast

DUBAI (Reuters) -A gas explosion in a coal mine in Iran’s South Khorasan Province killed at least 31 people and injured 16, the country’s interior minister Eskandar Momeni told state media on Sunday. Local media had reported earlier in the day that 51 people were killed following the accident they said was caused by a methane gas explosion in two blocks, B and C, of the privately-owned mine operated by the Madanjoo company. Momeni added […]

China ramps up coal plant approvals despite emissions pledge: report

by Poornima WEERASEKARA Agence France-Presse BEIJING, China (AFP) — China last year approved the largest expansion of coal-fired power plants since 2015, according to a study published Monday, despite its vow to begin phasing down use of the fossil fuel in just three years. The coal power capacity that China began building in 2022 was six times as much as that in the rest of the world combined, the report by the Center for Research […]

Indonesia tapped to supply fertilizer to PHL, to continue coal exports for PHL energy needs, says PBBM

  (Eagle News) — Talks are in the works for Indonesia to provide the Philippines with fertilizer and more coal for the country’s agriculture and energy needs respectively. Philippine president Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr mentioned this as one of the results of his talks with his Indonesian counterpart President Joko Widodo. Marcos Jr., who is also serving as the secretary of the Department of Agriculture said that he brought up the subject of agriculture as […]

Australia’s largest coal-fired power plant to close

by Andrew BEATTY Agence France-Presse SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) – Australia’s largest coal-fired power plant will shut in 2025 — several years sooner than planned — operators announced Thursday, saying the facility is no longer viable given the low cost of renewables. Origin Energy told investors the “influx of renewables” was “undermining the economics” of the vast decades-old Eraring plant just north of Sydney. Australia is one of the world’s largest coal producers and the climate […]

China govt to help run coal power plants at full capacity

BEIJING, China (AFP) – China will help its coal-fired power plants run at full capacity, the government has announced, raising further alarm about the fate of Beijing’s climate pledges. Swathes of the world’s second-biggest economy were paralysed last year because of power shortages, partly caused by a drop in coal supply as global prices of the fossil fuel soared. China is the world’s biggest emitter of the greenhouse gases responsible for climate change, and has pledged […]

End of an era nears for Berlin’s coal stoves

by Raphaelle LOGEROT Agence France-Presse BERLIN, Germany (AFP) – Alban Nikolai Herbst’s Berlin apartment is covered in dust, his precious record collection included, thanks to a coal-powered stove he still uses to heat his home like thousands across the city. Germany’s new government is set to extinguish the at-home heat source from a bygone era as part of its ambitious climate plans, as it looks to cut harmful emissions linked to climate change. But Herbst […]

Purity or power: India’s coal quandary

by Abhaya SRIVASTAVA Agence France-Presse SINGRAULI, India (AFP) – Thick grey dust hangs in the air and vast chasms are gouged into the land in the Indian coal hub of Singrauli, where giant machines scoop up dirty fuel to power the country’s growth while worsening its pollution blight. The open-cast mines of Singrauli epitomise the economic and environmental dilemma faced by the world’s second-most populous nation, which led the opposition to phasing out coal at this […]

‘Down’ but not ‘out’: Growth needs fuel India’s coal addiction

by Abhaya SRIVASTAVA Agence France-Presse NEW DELHI, India (AFP) – Even as its capital was blanketed by toxic smog, India led the charge to weaken anti-coal pledges at the COP26 summit, with experts saying it is prioritising its economic growth over the planet’s future. The world’s third-largest emitter teamed up with China to water down language on fossil fuels at the Glasgow conference, forcing a compromise: a climate deal that bound countries to “phase down” […]

Australia’s coal country looks to a less sooty future

by Andrew LEESON Agence France-Presse NEWCASTLE, Australia (AFP) – Australia’s conservative leaders have defied calls for urgent climate action, boasting they will sell coal for as long as anyone is buying. But in the country’s carbon heartland, locals are already preparing for life beyond fossil fuels. Two-hundred-and-thirty years ago, among the verdant outcrops that flank the southeastern coastal town of Newcastle, a band of escaped convicts made the first recorded discovery of coal on the […]

Australia vows to sell coal ‘for decades’

SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) – Australia said Monday it will sell coal for “decades into the future” after spurning a pact to phase out the polluting fossil fuel to halt catastrophic climate change. More than 40 countries pledged to eliminate coal use within decades during the COP26 UN climate summit in Glasgow, which aims to cap the warming of Earth since the Industrial Revolution to between 1.5 and 2.0 degrees Celsius. Australia, along with some other […]

Protesters demand climate action in global rally

by Kelly MACNAMARA and Patrick GALEY Agence France-Presse GLASGOW, United Kingdom (AFP) – Tens of thousands of protesters braved rain and wind in Glasgow Saturday as part of worldwide demonstrations against what campaigners say is a failure of crunch UN climate talks to act fast enough to tame global warming. Dozens of events were planned worldwide to demand cuts in fossil fuel use and immediate help for communities already affected by climate change, particularly in […]

Bulgaria coal miners brace for ‘disaster’ as phaseout looms

by Rossen BOSSEV Agence France-Presse STARA ZAGORA, Bulgaria (AFP) – Nikolay Dinev, 34, has worked as a coal miner for 12 years but now faces an uncertain future as an EU-wide exit from coal is being discussed at the UN’s COP26 climate conference in Glasgow. “It will be a disaster… The closure is inevitable,” Dinev told AFP on the outskirts of the Maritsa East complex in central Bulgaria. Bulgaria — which joined the EU in […]