Boom and Bust Coal 2025

The Boom and Bust Coal 2025 report by Global Energy Monitor analyzes global coal power capacity trends in 2024, highlighting a divergence between accelerating retirements in Europe and continued large-scale expansion in China and India.

• In 2024, global coal power capacity saw a net increase of 18.8 GW, as 44.1 GW was commissioned and 25.2 GW was retired. This resulted in a total global coal capacity of 2,175 GW, which is 259 GW higher than the level in 2015 when the Paris Agreement was signed.
• China and India are the primary drivers of global coal growth. China commissioned 30.5 GW of capacity in 2024 (70% of the global total) and had 94.5 GW in new construction starts. India recorded its highest-ever level of new coal proposals in 2024, totaling 38.4 GW, and plans to build over 90 GW of new coal by 2032.
• Coal retirements accelerated in Europe, with the EU27 retiring 11 GW of capacity in 2024, a fourfold increase over 2023. Germany retired 6.7 GW, and the United Kingdom completed its coal phaseout, becoming the sixth country to do so since 2015.
• Progress on coal retirements slowed in the United States, falling to 4.7 GW in 2024, the lowest annual total since 2014. In the OECD, coal plant proposals dropped from 142 in 2015 to five today, though annual retirements would need to increase from 19 GW to 70 GW to align with the Paris Agreement.
• Regional trends vary: Southeast Asia is seeing a decline in new proposals, though Indonesia faces challenges with 'captive coal plants' that supply industrial facilities directly. In Latin America, Panama committed to a coal phaseout by 2026, while Brazil continues to support coal plants with subsidies. In Africa, no new plants were commissioned in 2024, but new proposals emerged in Zimbabwe and Zambia.

APA

Shearer, C. (2025). Boom and Bust Coal 2025. Global Energy Monitor. https://globalenergymonitor.org/research/boom-and-bust-coal-2025

Chicago

Shearer, Christine. Boom and Bust Coal 2025. Global Energy Monitor, 2025. https://globalenergymonitor.org/research/boom-and-bust-coal-2025.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Shearer |first1=Christine |title=Boom and Bust Coal 2025 |publisher=Global Energy Monitor |date=29 April 2025 |url=https://globalenergymonitor.org/research/boom-and-bust-coal-2025 |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{shearer2025boom, author = {Shearer, Christine}, title = {{Boom and Bust Coal 2025}}, institution = {Global Energy Monitor}, year = {2025}, month = apr, url = {https://globalenergymonitor.org/research/boom-and-bust-coal-2025}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }