In 2025, just five countries - China, India, the United States, Indonesia, and Japan - accounted for 80% of global growth in coal consumption. The United States was the primary driver of this demand growth. This was reported by Dengi.ua, citing an infographic on Visual Capitalist.
The U.S. posted the world’s highest annual growth in coal consumption—the figure jumped by 10% (0.80 exajoules, EJ) to reach 8.73 EJ. For comparison: one exajoule of energy is enough to power about 25 million American households for a year.
This surge marked a sharp reversal from 2024, when U.S. coal consumption fell by 3.4%. The main reason for the shift in trend was a colder winter, which increased demand for natural gas and drove up its prices. This boosted the economic appeal of coal-fired power generation: coal-fired electricity production in the country rose by 93.2 TWh, while gas-fired generation fell by 61.8 TWh.
At the same time, Indonesia ranked second in terms of demand growth: coal consumption in the country increased by 0.43 EJ (to 5.15 EJ). The country became the world’s largest coal exporter, shipping 10.4 EJ - twice its own domestic consumption.
China, in turn, remains the world’s largest consumer of coal, accounting for 56% of global consumption and 52% of global production. However, consumption in China remained unchanged over the year, while imports fell by 10%.
In Europe, coal consumption fell by 3.1%, and shipments by 6.3%. This is due to the closure of coal-fired power plants and the expansion of renewable energy capacity.
Although Europe reduced its total coal imports by more than 50% between 2015 and 2025, the region remains dependent on external supplies, which cover 41% of its consumption. Russia remains the largest supplier of coal to the European market.
