8 minute read
Coal's dramatic turnaround in a historic year - 2022
from BBMC Yearbook 2022
by bbminingclub
Michelle Manook, Chief Executive Officer, World Coal Association
When it comes time for climate change historians to look back over the past century, I feel sure that the year 2022 will stand out amongst others. No matter which way you look at it, the profusion of energy challenges that tore through 2022 made everyone sit up and think.
From late January, the northern hemisphere was plunged into energy chaos as every conceivable challenge was thrown at it – from energy shortfalls, transportation bottlenecks and price spikes to the inability of renewables to provide the cheap, reliable energy expected of it. The World Coal Association (WCA) are staunch supporters of renewable energy, but we understand that renewables are called ‘intermittent’ for good reason. The sun and wind are excellent, albeit erratic, gods.
On top of all that, a series of geopolitical issues emerged, in Russia/ Ukraine, but also China, South Africa and other flashpoints around the world – including Australia. As always, and thanks to its rich geological identity, Australia has weathered the brunt of the storm, although new climate goals and aspirations will continue to test the country’s physical and philosophical capabilities.
We have always emphasised that the switch to a wholly renewable future cannot be made overnight. Any transition needs to be made with our ‘eyes wide open’ and all energy options (and solutions) in mind. This brings us to coal which has experienced a circuitous renaissance in 2022. Every time the lights go out, another retired coal plant is reactivated.
The headlines alone tell a fascinating story:
A raft of countries have delayed the retirement of coal plants while others, especially in Asia, have continued shoring up their coal fleets.
If it proves anything, it’s that coal, despite climate doom headlines, has created a reality check and it has not been resigned to history. The real issue, however, is what happens to coal in the meantime. Is it a temporary straddler between now and a wholly renewable future, or does it remain a fully-fledged fuel and resource of the future, critical to so many industries?
For us, the answer is clear.
Coal’s many faces
Coal is a future contributor which goes far beyond combustion.
Not only is it a fuel that transitions through a swathe of abatement technologies, not the least of which are high-efficiency low emissions (HELE) and carbon capture and storage (CCS). It is also a commodity of ongoing abatement advancement through gasification. Coal can supplement or replace natural gas in the manufacture of hydrogen, ammonia, and ammoniabased products such as fertiliser – the latter, so crucial to food security.
As lignite, coal becomes a soil improver creating new agricultural land resources previously degraded by human activity.
We should also remember the multitude of pollution reduction efficiencies that are in day-to-day use. Consider those used in coal extraction such as dust, water and waste management, surface subsidence management, land rehabilitation, methane management, green power, electric vehicles, and coal fines recovery.
Additionally, abated coal is technically proven in the power sector. It’s included in electrostatic precipitators and fabric filters for particulate matter (PM) and limited mercury control, selective catalytic reduction systems for reducing NOx, wet and dry scrubbers for reducing SOx and amine solvents used for CO2.
In a gasified or reduced form, coal can be:
• converted to liquid fuels such as methanol or numerous other chemicals
• used as a source of carbon to manufacture fibres
• used to extract rare earth elements and metals
These applications are testament to coal’s multifunctional roles – its holistic contribution.
In the meantime, coal continues to deliver reliable, affordable electricity and essential products such as steel, cement, and aluminium, which go to the heart of modernisation. And if we are addressing matters of the heart, we need to constantly remember that billions of people still have no access to life’s staples – food, housing, heating, transportation, employment – and coal remains the linchpin to these fundamentals. Basically, it continues to provide economic development and build social capacity in countries where fuel choices are limited.
Lastly, through emissions abatement technology, coal helps meet international climate change targets. That is why we, as a global advocacy alliance advocating on coal’s behalf, must continue educating about the critical contribution coal will make to an energy transition and beyond.
Simply, coal is a worthy, versatile commodity – part of an integrated and global ecosystem, which must play its part in both economic and environmental ambitions.
The coal penny drops
This year, through action and circumstance, we have seen the first real signs that the coal penny has dropped.
Influencers, decision-makers, commentators, and learned members of the public have begun to bring coal back into the fold, mindful that we must be realistic and rational, using what we have rather than waiting without certainty for what we want.
Admittedly some are more reluctant than others, but as I have moved around the world - and I’ve moved around a lot this year - I have seen a shift in the questions I am being asked. I’ve noticed that questions are now more enquiring about the contribution that abated coal can make.
There is a growing acceptance that coal emissions can be ameliorated through processes, systems and technologies which make coal as valid and valued as any other resource.
I have welcomed the fact that up to 99% of all coal emissions can be eliminated through abatement technologies and processes which currently exist. And I like to cast that fact against another, that today there is no credible 100% renewable-only solution. A reality that is fast hitting us all.
This year, I have spoken with hundreds of parliamentarians, business leaders, investors, climate scientists, journalists, and critics, all of whom have agreed that if what we are saying is true (and everything we say is fully indexed and validated), coal deserves a second look. There is no doubt in my mind that those who have bet on 100% renewables only will continue to defend their position and/or find scapegoats and/or chase sensational headlines.
But just because you wish it – doesn’t make it true. I think 2022 has given us all something to think about and that includes our industry, and our coal value chain.
Enrolling the future
Most significantly and energising for me, we have attracted new participants along the whole coal value chain – producers, suppliers, investors, transporters, innovators - who know coal is different and equally, want to make a difference to coal’s future legacy.
Those of us who are ‘in’ coal know that coal is not simply a black rock that is dug out of the ground. It is an entire ecosystem.
As such, we need to examine everything that coal touches directly and indirectly – food, transportation, housing, electricity, renewables, employment, economic progress, and social advancement.
Over the past year, we have been fortunate to enrol a new vanguard of coal representatives committed to multifunctional coal that keeps economies developing as it decarbonises and builds social cohesion as it sustains.
We have been fortunate to conscript players such as Coal India (one of the world’s largest coal producers), Seriti (South African owner of South 32 thermal coal assets), Menar (South Africa’s private mining investment company), Australia’s Bowen Coking Coal (BCC), a dynamic, homegrown met coal supplier, and the major Mongolian producer Tavan Tolgoi (ETT), which oversees one of the world’s largest untapped coking and thermal coal deposits of an estimated 6.4 billion tonnes.
These players are just a few who join other local Queensland operators and members including Bravus Resources, Gainwell and Whitehaven.
They have all signed on to Responsible Coal Principles which are based on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. They are all working realistically, pragmatically, and diligently towards a future coal industry which is abated, innovative, modernised and sustainable.
World events have given us another opportunity in 2022. We are living in a postmodern era which seems to be dominated by hysteria. But as a coal value chain, we can transcend this.
Our future coal conversation needs to be sane, embedded in facts, not fiction, and embrace change through mindset and technology.
This year has shown how coal has entered a new era in its evolution. Our challenge now is to maintain momentum and keep proving how coal is ultimately economically, environmentally, and socially indispensable.
