Carbon emissions from maritime coal exports remained in the same levels last year, in spite of the impact of COVID-19 on consumption, according to a recent study.
As Reuters reports, research by independent climate think tank Ember indicated that seaborne coal exports accounted for 3.1 billion tonnes of CO2 produced in 2020, or about 10% of total energy-related CO2 emissions last year.
That compared with 3.4 billion tonnes of CO2 produced from coal exported by ships in 2019. In addition, during 2020 global coal shipments amounted to about 1.25 billion tonnes, with Indonesia and Australia accounting for 59% of these seaborne exports. Global coal shipments were also estimated at 1.38 billion tonnes in 2019.
What is more, Ember estimated that CO2 emissions from seaborne coal shipments reached 1.28 billion tonnes in the first five months of 2021, in comparison to 1.30 billion tonnes last year.
In fact, the US, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the European Union agreed last month to stop international financing of coal projects that emit carbon by the end of 2021, and phase out support for all fossil fuels.
Commenting on the findings of the survey, Ember analyst Nicolas Fulghum said that lack of funding for new coal-fired power plants in growing Asian markets will slow down the growth in coal demand seen in recent years.
