A recent report indicates that enough new coal mining projects were proposed last year to increase global supplies by 2.5 billion tonnes annually, an 11% rise from the previous year, despite demand for coal leveling off.
Global Energy Monitor (GEM), an NGO, revealed that India significantly contributed to the surge in new coal mine proposals in 2025. This increase occurred despite a global downturn in new mine openings, primarily driven by falling demand for the fossil fuel. The states of Jharkhand and Odisha in India were almost solely responsible for this rise, doubling their proposals for new coal mines in line with an ambitious plan from India’s Ministry of Coal to boost the country’s output.
India aims to increase its coal production by nearly 100 million tonnes, reaching 1.15 billion tonnes in the 2025-26 fiscal year. This expansion is intended to meet the nation’s growing electricity demand, support economic growth, and address increasingly severe and frequent heatwaves exacerbated by the climate crisis.
GEM noted that these planned increases in coal production contradict global trends, where the world is increasingly favoring renewable electricity over coal. Although coal mine proposals slowed down in the years following the Covid-19 pandemic, they have begun to climb again, raising concerns about a potential future increase in mining despite a slowdown in new facility developments.
However, the startup of new coal mining projects has steadily declined in recent years, according to GEM’s latest report. It found that new coal mines capable of producing approximately 113 million tonnes annually began operations last year, marking a 40% decrease from 2024, which was already the lowest annual total in a decade. This decline was largely due to a slowdown in new mines in China and Australia, which saw reductions of 44% and 96% respectively.
GEM warned that India’s rise in new mine proposals is inconsistent with the International Energy Agency’s prediction of a global coal demand slowdown by the end of the decade.
In a separate report from energy think tank Ember, wind and solar power surpassed coal generation in the global electricity mix for the first time last year, a “milestone moment” for climate action. This rise in renewables was largely attributed to China and India, while the US and Europe continued to rely more heavily on fossil fuels.
Tiffany Means, a senior researcher at Global Energy Monitor and co-author of the report, commented, “The economic rationale for expanding coal mining becomes progressively weaker as low-cost clean energy continues to displace coal. Rather than locking in decades of additional coal production, governments have an opportunity to cancel projects that remain in the development pipeline before they advance to construction.”
