Global coal power declines, Bangladesh still in opposite direction: Report

Global coal fired electricity generation fell in 2025 as solar and wind power continued to expand rapidly across globally. However, Bangladesh is failing to keep pace with this global energy transition and remains heavily dependent on fossil fuel imports, according to an international report released today, Thursday.

The report, Boom and Bust Coal 2026, published by Global Energy Monitor, found that global coal-fired power capacity rose by 3.5 percent in 2025. Despite this, actual coal-based electricity generation declined by 0.6 percent during the same period, reflecting a growing shift toward renewable energy.
The study says the decline is largely driven by the rapid expansion of solar and wind power, which is increasingly meeting new electricity demand in many countries and reducing reliance on coal.
However, the report paints a more concerning picture for Bangladesh. It states that in South Asia outside India, coal-based electricity generation is largely dependent on imports. Bangladesh, it notes, continues to face technical and fuel supply challenges in its fossil-fuel-based power system and has yet to develop significant renewable energy capacity.
The report also highlights that while neighbouring Pakistan has rapidly expanded distributed solar power to reduce dependence on volatile fossil fuel markets, Bangladesh remains heavily reliant on imported coal and LNG, often facing disruptions in energy supply.
The findings come at a time when Bangladesh is struggling with power shortages, rising import bills, and pressure on foreign exchange reserves due to costly fossil fuel imports.
Globally, the report identifies a widening gap between coal plant construction and actual coal use. Even as new coal capacity is added, many countries are burning less coal due to the rapid growth of renewable energy.
This trend is most evident in China and India. In China, coal capacity increased by 6 percent, but coal-based electricity generation fell by 1.2 percent. In India, capacity rose by 3.8 percent, while generation dropped by 2.9 percent. In both countries, most new electricity demand was met by solar and wind power.
Christine Shearer, Project Manager of the Global Coal Plant Tracker, said, “In 2025, the world built more coal power plants but used less coal. Development has become more concentrated—95 percent of coal plant construction is now in China and India. Yet even there, solar and wind are expanding fast enough to replace coal.”
She added that the key challenge heading into 2026 is not the lack of renewable alternatives, but the persistence of policies that continue to treat coal as necessary, even as power systems increasingly move beyond it.
According to the report, only 32 countries proposed or built new coal power plants in 2025, down from 75 countries in 2014. Today, just 5 percent of global coal development takes place outside China and India.
At the same time, Latin America declared a halt to new coal projects in 2025, while South Korea is moving toward a full coal phase-out policy.
However, the report warns that the retirement of existing coal plants remains slow. Nearly 70 percent of coal units scheduled for retirement in 2025 remained operational, particularly in the European Union and the United States.
The report was jointly produced by more than 20 international organisations, including the Bangladesh Working Group on Ecology and Development and Waterkeepers Bangladesh.
It concludes that while the global energy transition is becoming more stable and irreversible, the biggest barrier is no longer technology or cost—but policy inertia, as many countries continue to support coal despite the rising affordability and competitiveness of renewable energy.