“Clean coal” is not one technology but a toolkit. Some tools cut local air pollution sharply, such as filters, scrubbers and NOx controls. Others reduce how much coal is burned, through higher efficiency. A few, like carbon capture, target CO2 directly but remain expensive and limited in use. Industrial coal users can combine them to

When coal prices move, the cost of electricity, cement, steel and many manufactured goods moves with them. For plants that burn coal directly, fuel is often the largest operating cost, so a sharp rise can wipe out margins within months. In 2026 coal prices rose strongly: Australian Newcastle coal went from an average of $108.40

Most of the world’s steel is still made with coal. In 2025 about 69% of the roughly 1.85 billion tonnes of crude steel produced came from the blast furnace and basic oxygen furnace (BF-BOF) route, which turns metallurgical coal into coke to reduce iron ore to iron. That route uses roughly 0.77 tonnes of coal

A coal power plant’s efficiency is the share of the coal’s energy that leaves as electricity. Older subcritical units typically convert roughly a third of the fuel’s energy into power, while modern ultra-supercritical units reach the mid-40s in percentage terms. Every point of efficiency gained means less coal burned, lower fuel costs and lower emissions