Coal power remains dominant, comprising 35% of global electricity generation

China and India are the top producers of electricity using coal

Coal power is still the largest source of electricity generation, accounting for 35% of the total mix, with China comprising over half of the global production, according to the Global Electricity Review 2024 by energy think tank Ember.

Ember said the China produced 5,716 terawatt-hours (TWh) of its electricity using coal-fired power sources in 2023 which represents 55% of the global coal generation.

It is followed by INdia with 1,489 TWh which is only a quarter of the China’s output.

Compared to the previous year, coal generation rode by 1.4% or by 145 TWh, slightly higher than the 1.3% growth from the previous year.

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“However, while total global electricity generation increased, the share of coal in the global mix has actually fallen slightly, by 0.3 percentage points, from 35.7% in 2022 to 35.4% in 2023,” the report read.

China and India both reported the highest increase in coal generation by 319 TWh and 100 TWh, respectively.

The US coal generation declined by 19% or by 156 TWh.

Overall, only 13 countries globally generated over half of their electricity production using coal which includes Kosovo, Mongolia, South Africa, India, Kazakhstan, Indonesia, Philippines, Poland and China.