Coal
Coal consumption grew by 3% in 2013, well
below the 10-year average of 3.9% but it is still
the fastest-growing fossil fuel. Coal’s share of
global primary energy consumption reached
30.1%, the highest since 1970. Consumption
outside the OECD rose by a below-average 3.7%,
but still accounted for 89% of global growth. China
recorded the weakest absolute growth since
2008 but the country still accounted for 67% of
global growth. India experienced its second
largest volumetric increase on record and
accounted for 21% of global growth. OECD
consumption increased by 1.4%, with increases
in the US and Japan offsetting declines in the EU.
Global coal production grew by 0.8%, the weakest
growth since 2002. Indonesia (+9.4%) and
Australia (+7.3%) offset a decline in the US (-3.1%),
while China (+1.2%) recorded the weakest
volumetric growth in production since 2000.
Nuclear and hydroelectric
Global nuclear output grew by 0.9%, the first
increase since 2010. Increases in the US, China
and Canada were partly offset by declines in
South Korea, Ukraine, Spain and Russia.
Japanese output fell by 18.6% and has fallen by
95% since 2010. Nuclear output accounted for
4.4% of global energy consumption, the smallest
share since 1984.