The World in 2030

The World in 2030 183
by the demand for affordable electricity and the rising
price of other fuels.
At least 94 coal-fired electric power plants – with the
capacity to power 62 million American homes – are
now planned across 36 states. 347
Coal is also one of the main energy sources for the developing
world. Almost 70 per cent 348 of India’s electricity is generated
from coal and the figure in China is 80 per cent. 349
And, as this report was being written, environmentalists
were dismayed to learn that China has unexpectedly shot to
the top of the list of the world’s largest emitters of greenhouse
gases, years before such a ‘promotion’ was anticipated. Under
the headline ‘China overtakes US as world’s biggest CO 2
emitter’, The Guardian commented in June 2007:
According to the Netherlands Environmental Assessment
Agency, soaring demand for coal to generate
electricity and a surge in cement production have
helped to push China’s recorded emissions for 2006
beyond those from the US already. It says China
produced 6,200m tonnes of CO 2
last year, compared
with 5,800m tonnes from the US. Britain produced
about 600m tonnes. 350
The World Coal Institute 351 asserts that coal supplies 40 per
cent of the world’s electricity, but this figure is at odds with
the US government’s claim that coal’s current share globally
is 24 per cent and this highlights just how difficult it is to
find reliable information about something as politically