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Facts and Figures on a Fossil Fuel 2015

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Facts and Figures on a Fossil Fuel 2015 1 COAL ATLAS Facts and figures on a fossil fuel 2015 HOW WE ARE COOKING THE CLIMATE 2 IMPRINT The COAL ATLAS 2015 is jointly published by the Heinrich Böll Foundation, Berlin, Germany, and Friends of the Earth International, London, UK Chief executive editor: Dr. Stefanie Groll, Heinrich Böll Foundation Executive editor: Lili Fuhr, Heinrich Böll Foundation Executive editor: Tina Löffelsend, Bund für Umwelt und Naturschutz Deutschland Managing editor: Dietmar Bartz Art director: Ellen Stockmar English editor: Paul Mundy Research editors: Ludger Booms, Heinrich Dubel Proofreader: Maria Lanman Contributors: Cindy Baxter, Benjamin von Brackel, Heidi Feldt, Markus Franken, Lili Fuhr, Stefanie Groll, Axel Harneit-Sievers, Heike Holdinghausen, Arne Jungjohann, Eva Mahnke, Tim McDonnell, Vladimir Slivyak Editorial responsibility (V. i. S. d. P.): Annette Maennel, Heinrich Böll Foundation This publication is written in International English. First English edition, November 2015 Production manager: Elke Paul, Heinrich Böll Foundation Printed by Phoenix Print GmbH, Würzburg, Germany Climate-neutral printing on 100 percent recycled paper for the block and 60 percent for the wrapper. This material is licensed under Creative Commons “Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported“ (CC BY-SA 3.0). For the licence agreement, see http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/legalcode, and a summary (not a substitute) at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en. FOR ORDERS AND DOWNLOAD Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung, Schumannstraße 8, 10117 Berlin, Germany, www.boell.de/coalatlas Friends of the Earth International, Nieuwe Looiersstraat 31, 1017 VA Amsterdam, The Netherlands, www.foei.org Bund für Umwelt und Naturschutz Deutschland, Versand, Am Köllnischen Park 1, 10179 Berlin, www.bund.net/coalatlas INNENTITEL 3 COAL ATLAS Facts and figures on a fossil fuel 2015 4 INHALT TABLE OF CONTENTS 2 IMPRINT 18 HEALTH FINE DUST, FAT PRICE 6 INTRODUCTION Smoke and fumes from coal-fired power plants make us ill. They are responsible for hundreds 8 12 BRIEF LESSONS of thousands of deaths worldwide each ABOUT COAL AND THE WORLD year. Atmospheric and environmental pollution from coal costs billions in health expenses. 20 LABOUR DIRTY JOBS IN A DIRTY INDUSTRY 10 GEOLOGY AND GEOGRAPHY Although coal production is still on the rise, the SUBTERRANEAN FORESTS sector is employing fewer people. Structural Coal is formed from vegetation at high change has spread to all continents. Nevertheless, temperatures and pressures, cut off mining underground remains one of from the air. The older the coal, the more the most dangerous occupations worldwide. carbon and energy it contains. Deposits are located in all continents. 22 HUMAN RIGHTS PUSHED DOWN AND DRIVEN OUT 12 HISTORY When the coal firms arrive, local people THE BEDROCK OF INDUSTRY can expect forced removal and repression. Coal is the fuel that powered the Industrial Voluntary standards are of little help. Revolution and the transformation of economies and societies over the last 24 PROTESTS two centuries. Its benefits have been A BROAD ALLIANCE WITH STAYING POWER huge – while the damage it has wrought was Around the world, people are fighting back ignored for too long. A switch to against the coal industry. They face repression, cleaner fuels now heralds the end of the harassment and violence – but sometimes coal era. they are successful. 14 GREENHOUSE GASES 26 SUBSIDIES SPOILING THE CLIMATE HIDDEN PAYMENTS, UNPAID BILLS Digging up coal and using it to generate The coal industry uses taxpayers’ money electricity churns out emissions that to keep its prices low – and it does not compensate intensify the greenhouse effect. Coal is one for the costs of climate change or disease. A brief of the biggest sources of climate change. look at the scale of the problem. 16 NATURE 28 FINANCE A CONTAMINATED FUTURE BIG PLAYERS BEHIND THE SCENES Open-cast mining destroys the landscape Digging mines, building power plants of both the pit and the surrounding and providing infrastructure cost billions. Many area. Efforts to restore these areas often fail countries cannot afford the investments; and the surface above the underground credit agencies, multilateral and private banks mines sinks. are glad to step in. 4 COAL ATLAS 2015 INHALT 5 30 PROFITABILITY 42 LOBBYING DEFLATING THE CARBON BUBBLE PAID TO PREVENT PROGRESS Successful climate policies mean that Wherever climate and energy negotiations coal is becoming a less valuable resource. This take place, the coal industry wants affects the companies that dig it up. to have their say. They often succeed. 32 CHINA 44 EMISSIONS TRADING BLACK FUEL, IN THE RED STRONG PLAYERS, FEEBLE INSTRUMENTS Change is under way for the world’s biggest Trading in pollution permits has blossomed coal consumer; consumption in 2014 was into a big business. The system has produced little down. Renewables are up. Coal-fired power benefit for the climate. Even so, the alternatives plants are working at less than full capacity. are barely discussed. 34 INDIA 46 CARBON CAPTURE AND STORAGE RICH IN COAL BUT POOR IN ENERGY PROBLEMS AT DEPTH Coal is an important part of India’s energy With the promise of “clean coal”, the industry mix, and consumption is rising quickly as the intends to store carbon dioxide underground. economy expands. Local production is not However, this method of dealing with enough: strong demand is attracting imports the climate crisis fails for both technical and from Australia and elsewhere. economic reasons. 36 UNITED STATES 48 THE ENERGY TRANSITION PAST ITS PRIME TURNING FROM BURNING – POWERING The US coal industry is losing market share UP RENEWABLES to gas and renewables. The nation’s dirtiest fuel The share of renewable energy in the global is giving way to cleaner alternatives. power mix is growing fast. Nations and corporations are switching over. However, 38 RUSSIA a complete shift away from fossil energy THE LAND WITHOUT DOUBT OR DEBATE is still not in sight. Coal is one of the dirtiest industries in Russia. Apart from hydropower, renewable energy is 50 EU ENERGY POLICY practically non-existent. Civil society groups ON TRACK, BUT AIMING TOO LOW that might push for more sustainable sources of The European Union’s climate policy power are few and far between. aims for lower emissions, lower consumption and an increase in renewable energy. 40 GERMANY The targets are achievable – but they ought to A TURNAROUND YET TO TURN be more ambitious. Germany is phasing out nuclear power and has come to rely more on coal for its electricity. Despite a steep rise in renewable energy, the use of coal is endangering Germany’s ambitious target to reduce its 52 AUTHORS AND SOURCES greenhouse gas emissions. FOR DATA AND GRAPHICS COAL ATLAS 2015 5 6 INTRODUCTION e have borrowed the Earth from By the middle of the century, our children.” This early environ- „ we will have to decarbonize our W mental movement slogan uses economy and society. simple words to express a central tenet of responsible, forward-looking policies: we must preserve the basis for the livelihood The coal boom has negative consequences of future generations. We must leave a for humans and nature that outweigh its better world to our children than the one economic benefits. Coal does not just kill the that we inherited. climate. In coal mines, terrible working conditions are rife. Accidents are common- Today, this principle compels us to do place. The environmental and health costs everything in our power to stop climate linked to the use of coal to generate electricity change and the damage it is causing. are enormous. Turning away from fossil (and This means that by the middle of the nuclear) fuels towards renewable energy century, we will have to decarbonize our can offer huge economic and social oppor- economy and society. A milestone on this tunities. It would create jobs and cut costs. A road is the phasing out of coal-burning. shortage of power can best be overcome by That is a huge challenge: coal was, and still the decentralized generation of energy from is, the fuel of industrialization and global renewable sources. economic growth. Switching to renewable energy and a more efficient economy A multilateral, binding climate agreement requires nothing less than a worldwide must give a clear signal to phase out fossil energy revolution. fuels. Companies that have made huge profits from fossil fuels should be made legally and A look at the statistics shows that global financially responsible for the damage they demand for coal is still rising. Growth have caused, and continue to cause. To speed will average a rate of 2.1 percent annually the transition, a reasonable price must be set through 2019. Just over half the for CO2 emissions. world’s usage takes place in China, which is by far the biggest consumer and We hope that this publication will spur the importer. King Coal also generates international campaign to phase out the 43 percent of Germany’s total energy. Even use of coal. We are particularly pleased with so, renewables have overtaken lignite, the efforts of many of our offices abroad to an especially climate-damaging type of produce editions of this atlas in local langu- coal, as a power source in Germany ages. We hope you will find this stimulating in 2014. The International Energy Agency reading. predicts that the use of coal to produce energy will decline in the medium term. Even in China, there are Barbara Unmüßig and Ralf Fücks signs that consumption has peaked. Board, Heinrich Böll Foundation 6 COAL ATLAS 2015 7 oal contributes more to climate Investment in coal-fired power change than any other energy source. „ diverts much-needed investment C Burning coal is the largest single away from renewable energy. source of carbon dioxide emissions in the world. Its extraction, processing and burning are inescapably dirty: the entire Africa, Friends of the Earth South Africa coal-to-energy process generates pollution fights against air pollution and health and destructive impacts for communities, problems caused by coal companies.
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