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The WWF report released this week, "Coming Clean: The Truth and Future of Coal in Asia Pacific," highlights the need to limit excessive dependence on polluting coal -- a major challenge for Asian countries that rely heavily on coal as a cheap source of energy.
"What is scary is that between 2001 and 2006, we actually saw that coal use around the world grew by an unprecedented 30 percent and most of it -- 88 percent -- was from Asia," said Ina Pozon, coordinator of WWF's International Asia Pacific Coal Initiative and author of the report. The WWF report lists China as responsible for 72 percent of the world increase in coal use since 2001. India accounts for 9 percent while the economies of South East Asia and South Korea make up the balance.
Pozon believes that coal will continue to be a dominant and available resource. "Unlike oil, coal is going to come from countries that are not geopolitically stressed. You have U.S. and major coal reserves -- India, Indonesia, China and Australia. So coal is never going to be a problem when you look at these countries rich in coal."
Coal, a carbon-rich mineral, is the single largest source of fuel for generating electricity worldwide. Its abundance in nature feeds the voracious appetite of energy producers. It is also the cheapest of all available energy fuels. Its abundance and affordability make it the fuel of choice in most Asian states, particularly China and India, regarded as coal giants in terms of production and consumption. Analysts estimate that 2.3 billion tons of coal, nearly 40 percent of the world's output, was mined from these two countries in 2006.
Ninety-five percent of China's coal is mined from deep in the earth through a process called "longwall," which often leaves behind empty mines prone to either collapse or sinkholes. According to media reports from China, this has caused one-seventh of the land in the north central province of Shanxi to sink due to underground mining tunnels.
International environmental advocacy groups such as the Energy Foundation and the Natural Research Defense Council estimate that 4 million hectares (nearly 10 million acres) of land have been lost to mining activities in China. About 1,900 villages and over 1 million people have been negatively impacted by geological disasters caused by coal mining, the Energy Foundation claimed in a 2006 study. The major coal mining areas of Shanxi, Shaanxi and Inner Mongolia have also witnessed a steady increase in coal mining accidents that have killed thousands of miners.
India, by contrast, uses the opencast mining method, which requires exploiting large tracts of land. This has severely affected vegetation and tree cover, caused soil erosion and dust pollution and depleted forest cover.
Coal-generated water pollution is also a major concern for China, where 400 of its 600 cities have inadequate fresh water supplies, while 100 more face serious water shortage problems, according to a World Bank research estimate.
"To produce every ton of coal in China, more than 2.5 tons of water is polluted," says Hu Min, program officer at the Beijing office of the Energy Foundation. She is also critical of the air pollution caused by the combustion of untreated coal released by Chinese coal refineries. "The yellow smog released by such plants can cause cancer in people exposed to it for long periods," she says. "According to the World Health Organization, of the 20 most polluted cities in the world, 16 are in China."
Watersheds in coastal areas that provide cooling water for coal-fired plants have their delicate aquatic ecosystems severely impacted. Researchers believe that the temperature of water discharged from the coal plants back to the watersheds is hotter by 15.6 degrees Celsius than the water body from which it came. This affects aquatic life, which is unable to sustain high variations in temperature. The effects are visible in India's Western State of Maharashtra, where hot water discharge from coal plants in the district of Dahanu has caused severe declines in fish and other aquatic life forms.
Coal is a super fuel that currently satisfies most of Asia's power needs. However, the cycle of coal mining heavily pollutes ecosystems and environments from extraction to combustion. It emits noxious chemicals such as sulfur dioxide, mercury and nitrogen dioxide into the atmosphere. These chemicals cause respiratory ailments, coronary heart disease, brain damage and cardiovascular illness.
The WWF's report links air pollution from coal-burning activities to pulmonary disease as the second largest single cause of adult deaths in China. In 2005 China released more than 25 million tons of sulfur dioxide -- 90 percent of which was generated by coal combustion. Acid rain, a product of sulfur dioxide, falls on approximately 30 percent of China's landmass, the report says.
Perhaps coal's greatest threat to the environment is its carbon dioxide emissions. According to the International Energy Agency, coal is responsible for 41 percent of global emissions, with China taking top spot as the largest emitter, ahead of the United States, with India in fifth place. According to the IEA, burning coal for electricity produces about 1 ton of carbon dioxide for every megawatt hour of energy.
China's domination of the coal industry is predictable as it sits on coal reserves estimated to be 11.6 percent of the world's total. However, the challenge for coal giants such as China and India is to mitigate coal usage to curb its negative impact on global warming and human health.
"Asian nations can't keep relying on coal as a cheap and available source of energy, but need to boost energy efficiency and become serious about renewable energy now," says Pozon.
According to the WWF's report, industrialized nations need to transfer additional technologies to assist developing countries in implementing low emission technologies. Policies reflecting the true cost of coal and encouraging public participation in energy planning can help communities combat pollution and climate change, it says.
Pozon believes that coal has a positive role if harnessed with the right technology, the right price, and genuine public participation. "In China we are launching an air pollution map web site, which is a public disclosure tactic. It provides data on air quality in southern China and Hong Kong and identifies the violators -- industries and power plants that violate environmental regulations. This shows that public has a key role in environmental protection, especially in countries where the regulatory environment is weak," Pozon said.
The efficiency of coal plants in China and India remains a key problem. The WWF study shows that if both nations were to embrace the most efficient coal technologies, coal usage could be reduced dramatically by 35 percent in India and 27 percent in China by 2030.
However, there is a long way to go before clean coal technologies will be viable in Asia, especially in the face of problematic regulatory environments where enforcement is weak.
