A year of realignment for the coal value chain

This past year marked a decisive turning point for the global coal value chain, not because the world suddenly embraced coal more warmly, or because energy debates have become less polarised, but because our own industry chose to unify.

Southern Africa: The first chapter and a blueprint for unity

One of the most significant milestones of 2025 was the launch of the Southern Africa Chapter, led by FutureCoal Chairman and Seriti Resources Group CEO Mike Teke. Bringing together the region’s top four coal nations – South Africa, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Botswana – the Chapter unites miners, transporters, industrial consumers, and policymakers across a region that collectively holds over 150 billion t of coal reserves.

Its establishment quickly demonstrated the impact of coordinated, fact-based engagement, and its early success has now become the template for the global movement that is taking shape.

India: A chapter rooted in confidence and clarity

Building on that momentum, FutureCoal launched the India Country Chapter in late 2025 – a platform designed to advance India’s full coal value chain potential.

India is currently making some of the world’s largest investments in modern coal transformation, including an ambitious national programme to gasify coal and produce cleaner synthetic fuels, fertilisers, and industrial chemicals. With government incentives totalling ?85,000 crore to gasify 100 million t of coal by 2030, India is utilising technology to strengthen industrial resilience, reduce dependence on imported oil and gas, and expand its potential for further industrialisation and manufacturing.

These developments align directly with our Sustainable Coal Stewardship (SCS) framework – a technology pathway for nations to pursue a balanced, affordable strategy that delivers high efficiency, best environmental practices, and energy security.

Is the global debate becoming rebalanced?

For the past six years, I have called for a return to the Paris Agreement’s principle of using all fuels and all technologies, while the rest fixated on a one-size-fits-all energy policy, to phase coal out. In 2025, that principle of technology neutrality finally resurfaced on the global stage.

At COP30 in Belém, despite intense advocacy for a fossil-fuel phase-out, no such language appeared in the final agreement. Instead, nations reaffirmed realism: sovereignty, technological diversity and flexibility remain at the core of credible energy and climate pathways.

The G20 in Johannesburg went further still, underscoring that energy security, affordability and development must remain inseparable from climate ambition. These were not concessions; they were acknowledgements of engineering, economics and reality.

Australia: A critical partner – But falling behind

And then there is Australia – a nation that should be among the world’s most advanced coal innovators, yet whose public debate has become one of the most polarised and least informed. This is despite Australia possessing:

• Some of the world’s highest-quality coal.

• World-class engineering capability.

• Nearly 300 years of reserves.

• Industries still fundamentally reliant on coal.

While India, China and Southern Africa scale up gasification, coal-to-chemicals, carbon capture and high-efficiency technologies, Australia remains stuck in an outdated coal-versus-renewables binary. This framing is not only false, but also economically dangerous.

When I addressed the National Press Club of Australia in November, the depth of misunderstanding became clear. Familiar misconceptions resurfaced: that coal is only for electricity, that there is no emission abatement pathway, and that renewables alone can deliver national industrial development.

Australia risks falling behind the race for effective sustainable solutions, not due to lack of capability, but due to lack of unity and factual clarity.

That is why FutureCoal will launch the Australia Pacific, or AUSPAC, Chapter in 2026, which will rebuild the nation’s 'Coal IQ,' restore engineering-based debate and unite the value chain under one coordinated voice.

Fund fair. Fund equal: A turning point in global finance

One of the most significant shifts this year came from the finance sector — and from its growing recognition of SCS as a credible, responsible investment framework. SCS offers what financiers have long lacked: a practical, evidence-based pathway for supporting cleaner coal technologies that deliver emission reductions without compromising security, create industrial value and ensure economic resilience.

Against this backdrop, FutureCoal Chairman Mike Teke and I issued an open letter to more than 700 global finance, investment and government stakeholders, calling for fair, equal and better financial and regulatory support for sustainable coal solutions and all modern technologies, rather than policies that seek to phase out thermal coal entirely.

Our message was clear: exclusionary investment practices driven by ideology rather than evidence are no longer viable in a world where electricity demand is accelerating due to extreme summer cooling needs, electrified transport, digitalisation and the rapid growth of artificial intelligence.

The response was immediate. Many institutions sought meetings to discuss policy adjustments. At the same time, two major net-zero coalitions, the Net Zero Banking Alliance and the Net Zero Asset Managers Initiative, dissolved or were suspended. Their retreat reflected a deeper shift as investors began questioning rigid, inflexible mandates that undermine both financial performance and energy security.

Meanwhile, global investment in coal continued to rise. Commercial banks across Asia, Europe and the United States invested more than US$130 billion in 2024. Overall coal investment grew 6% last year and is projected to rise another 4% in 2025, reaching US$135 billion.

The year ahead: One value chain. One voice.

In 2026, we will build on this momentum by launching new Country Chapters, including the AUSPAC Chapter, the China Chapter and others already in development. Each will drive regional leadership, strengthen policy engagement and expand our global network of coordinated, fact-based advocacy.

We will also roll out new global campaigns promoting responsible investment, technology inclusion and evidence-driven energy policy, campaigns designed to reshape the narrative, not simply react to it.

But our success now depends on the entire value chain standing together. We need more members, more partners, more innovators and more leaders. Unity is no longer optional; it is the foundation of our industry’s sustainability, competitiveness and longevity.

And here is the truth we must confront: if we do not unite, if we do not seize this moment, coordinate our voice and take control of the global narrative, others will define our future for us.

And we risk falling short of both our economic ambitions and our environmental responsibilities. By showing greater courage, coordination and conviction, we can remind the world, and ourselves, of coal’s true capabilities in a modern, secure and sustainable energy future.

Read the article online at: https://www.worldcoal.com/coal/31122025/a-year-of-realignment-for-the-coal-value-chain/