China will continue to drive global coal demand over the next five years, although growth is likely to slow amid uncertainties such as the country’s increasing adoption of cleaner technologies and implementation of coal consumption cuts in some regions, the International Energy Agency said Monday. The agency cut its average annual coal demand growth forecast for the 2013-2018 period to 2.3% from 2.6%, also citing increased competition from cheaper gas in the US. However, coal once again displayed the largest demand growth of all fossil fuels — including natural gas and oil — in 2012, at 7.697 billion mt, up 170 million mt on 2011. Launching its annual Medium-term Coal Market Report, IEA executive director Maria van der Hoeven said that in 2012, coal consumption in the world’s two largest markets, China and the US, was “abnormally weak.” Article continues below… Request a free […]