In a communique, which Reuters saw and reported on earlier, the Group of Seven nations - the United States, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan - plus the European Union said "international investments in unabated coal must stop now".

The German federal government published its updated Climate Protection Act on May 12, 2021.

The five-year average for week 19 is about flat with the most recent week at about 12.3 million st. Over 19 weeks, production was about 207 million st, up 3.3% from the year-ago period.

The US$7bn power plant is located near the existing Kendal facility in the Nkangala District, Mpumalanga.

Transmission grid firms have presented plans to the regulator to invest up to 102 billion euros ($124.56 billion) up to 2030, of which 55 billion will go into high-voltage networks and 47 billion into local distribution grids.

The report is the world’s first comprehensive study of how to transition to a net zero energy system by 2050 while ensuring stable and affordable energy supplies, providing universal energy access, and enabling robust economic growth.

The last national electricity plan of 2018 predicts a renewable energy capacity of 275GW by 2027, with plans for significant coal capacity additions (to the order of 50GW) during 2017-2022 as well as 2022-27.

Until now, Germany had targeted net-zero emissions by 2050. It has now committed to becoming carbon-negative by that date, meaning taking more carbon out of the atmosphere than it puts in.

EIA forecasts that Brent prices will average $65/b in the second quarter of 2021, $61/b during the second half of 2021, and $61/b in 2022.

March coal exports were up 2.5% from 6.71 million mt in February and 9.7% higher than the year-ago month. It was the highest in a month since 7.01 million mt in September 2019.

"China has committed to move from carbon peak to carbon neutrality in a much shorter time span than what might take many developed countries, and that requires extraordinarily hard efforts from China,"

China said in its 2021-2025 five-year plan published in March that it would continue to promote the “clean and efficient use of coal”.

The fifth strategic energy plan approved by the cabinet in July 2018 promotes conversion to high efficiency and next-generation coal-fired power generation in Japan in return for phasing out inefficient coal use.

India has stockpiled a record 132 million tonnes of coal – enough to run India’s power plants for two months – greatly exceeding the average of the previous five years,

EIA forecasts that Brent prices will average $65/b in the second quarter of 2021, $61/b during the second half of 2021, and $60/b in 2022.