EU Low Carbon Energy - Coal: HSBC pulls the plug on coal as a viable source of - Cecilia Jamasmie

HSBC has joined an increasing list of large banks by announcing Friday it would not longer finance coal-fired plants, oil sands and arctic drilling

The move, announced by Europe’s largest bank at its annual meeting as part of its new energy policy, seeks to head off criticism from investors who want the institution’s actions to be aligned with the Paris

Agreement, a global pact to limit greenhouse gas emissions and curb rising temperatures.

Daniel Klier, HSBC’s sustainability boss, said the decision reflected the bank’s ambition to help its customers make the transition to a low-carbon economy.

Read more: HSBC pulls the plug on coal | MINING.com

Energy Agency Sees Global Coal Boom Unabated, Europe’s Binge Temporary - by Andrew C. Revkin

The International Energy Agency’s Medium-Term Coal Market Report, issued today in Paris, is essential reading for anyone wishing to maintain a reality-based view of global trends in fuel use. While many energy forecasts end up wrong, on short time scales like this, that’s less true.

Some bullet points: The proportion of global energy supplied by coal is approaching that for oil. China and India see unabated growth in coal burning through the next five years. The surge in exports of coal from the United States to Europe should peak soon.

The news release — appended below — says it all, and the findings it describes reinforce my assertion awhile back that there’s plenty of denial to go around in the arguments over climate and energy trends and policies.

Read more: Dot Earth - New York Times blog

Central Europe: coal demand still hot

Central Europe’s economies are slowing, but the region is still doing better than much of the rest of the continent, the reason that regional coal miner New World Resources says it was able to beat expectations for the second quarter of the year.

The company reported sales of €347.5m for the quarter, down 24 per cent over the same period a year earlier and in line with expectations, while net income came to €28.3m, down by 66 per cent but better than the average estimate of €18.3m in a Reuters poll, in large part due to successful cost cutting.


“We consider the results, which exceeded expectations mainly thanks to lower costs, positive. The proposed dividend is also a positive surprise. NWR raised production targets but the outlook until the end of the year is a challenge given the conditions in the region (high supply of coking coal and lower prices),” writes Bohumil Trampota, an analyst with the Czech Republic’s J&T Banka.

Read more: Central Europe: coal demand still hot | beyondbrics