Coal, Emissions, and Economics: Do They Influence Each Other?
ASEAN Case Study
As a development economics student who likes environmental topics, I often hear the expression that “the economy and the environment will always experience trade-offs”. The trade-off in question is that when the economy grows, the environmental side will be sacrificed. What is sacrificed here are things like forest clearing, land conversion, complete extraction of natural resources, and much more.
In this analysis, I will see whether the economy represented by the GDP variable will have an impact on CO2 emissions. We know that the more massive a country’s economy, the more industries are operating. Here we know that the majority of fuel used by industry is coal. This analysis is interesting because it will examine economic and environmental aspects in one topic.
Background
This analysis is motivated by my concern about the use of coal as fuel for most industries in the world. Before going deeper, I invite you to look at the graph below.
The graph above shows the countries with the most coal and lignite use in 2022. For those of you who don’t know what lignite is, lignite is a brown and smooth sedimentary rock formed from naturally compressed peat. Lignite is considered the lowest quality coal because of its relatively low heating temperature. So actually coal and lignite are the same, the only difference is the grade and use. China is the country with the most coal use, namely 4,554 mt (metric tons), followed by India, the United States and Russia. If you look closely, there is a huge gap between China and other countries. Why this happened? why is coal use in China so large?
After I analyzed it more deeply, it turns out there are several reasons why China uses a lot of coal. Here are the points:
- Increase in world oil prices
- Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Domestic supply disruption
Those are the 3 points that are the reasons why China uses a lot of coal. But, here I highlight something else. My country, namely Indonesia, turns out to be in the top 5 countries with the most coal use in 2022. Indonesia, which incidentally is a country that has large coal potential, especially on the island of Kalimantan, also turns out to be one of the countries that has the largest coal potential in 2022. countries- a country that has large coal potential, especially on the island of Kalimantan. countries that have the largest coal potential in 2022. Countries that have large coal potential, especially on the island of Kalimantan with large coal consumption.
The graph above explains the use of coal and lignite in Indonesia during 1990–2022. It is clear that the trend of coal use in Indonesia continues to increase and there will be a significant spike in 2021 to 2022. Why is this spike happening? Because, 2022 is the year when the economy begins to recover because previously Covid-19 occurred. Economic recovery encourages the industrial sector to improve its performance, one of which is the large use of coal.
The next analysis will show the impact of coal use on GDP in Indonesia, and also look at its impact on CO2 emissions. This analysis does not only discuss Indonesia, but ASEAN. Because, I want to see the coverage wider, starting from Indonesia’s entry into the top 5 coal users. How does Indonesia influence ASEAN? where Indonesia is the largest coal-consuming country. Let’s move on to the next section.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was founded in 1967 and has 10 member countries, namely: Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. ASEAN’s goal is not limited to maintaining regional stability, but more than that, implementing economic integration and increasing regional competitiveness. Then on November 11 2022, Timor Leste officially became part of ASEAN, and became the 11th country.
ASEAN has become a new world economic power. This was marked by Kristalina’s statement at the “Plenary Session of the ASEAN-Indo Pacific Forum (AIPF)” in Jakarta (6/9/2023), namely:
“ASEAN contributes 10 percent of global growth. This number is almost double your (Indonesia’s) share in the world economy.”
This means that on a global scale, ASEAN already has a name and will continue to develop. But the problem is, is good economic growth accompanied by good environmental responsibility? Looking at the first part of this analysis, as a country’s economy grows, will coal use increase?
To answer this problem, I already have at least two data, namely GDP data for each ASEAN country and coal usage data for each ASEAN country. I will process the data in such a way as to display graphs of GDP and coal use. Will the higher a country’s GDP, the higher its coal use? To answer this, look at the graph below.
The graph above shows ASEAN GDP for the period 1980–2015. It can be seen that the ASEAN GDP trend is increasing from time to time. Even though there has been a decline in GDP, in the long term the trend continues to increase.
Now look at the graph above. This graph shows the average percentage of ASEAN electrification originating from coal resources. Similar to the previous graph, it turns out that this electrification graph is also experiencing an increasing trend. This means that coal is still a source of electricity generation in ASEAN countries.
If the two graphs above are combined, it will produce a picture that an increase in a country’s GDP will cause an increase in the use of coal, which in this analysis is used for electrification as an example. Why does an increase in GDP lead to an increase in coal use? here are some reasons why this could happen.
- Increased Energy Demand
An increase in GDP tends to increase energy demand from various sectors, for example industry, transportation and households. - Coal Prices Tend to Be Cheap
When compared with other fuels, coal prices tend to be cheap. So it is not surprising that many people still use coal to support the economy. - Industrialization
An increase in GDP will encourage the industrial sector to continue to develop and produce output so that GDP continues to increase. Improving the performance of this industrial sector requires a lot of energy. - Lack of Energy Infrastructure
ASEAN countries tend to be developing countries, and their energy infrastructure may not be well developed. - Government Policy
Government policy that continues to allow the use of coal is another reason why coal use remains high.
EMISSION
Talking about coal, it wouldn’t be complete if we didn’t also talk about emissions. Coal and emissions are close topics. I once saw a video on YouTube that discussed this topic. Below I will show you the video.
The two videos above show the impact of coal on the environment. The background of the video above is in one of the ASEAN countries, namely Indonesia. Indonesia, as explained at the beginning, is in the top 5 countries with the largest use of coal in the world. If you are curious about the video, it’s a good idea to watch it first and see how coal impacts the environment.
Continue the discussion. After this, I will show how CO2 emissions are in ASEAN. For your information, CO2 is a chemical compound consisting of one carbon atom and two oxygen atoms. Carbon dioxide is produced by all animals, plants, fungi and microorganisms in the process of respiration and is used by plants in the process of photosynthesis.
Even though it is a gas that occurs in nature and is necessary for life, excessive amounts can be dangerous. The dangers of CO2 can occur to human health and the environment as a whole. One source of CO2 is coal. Coal is one of the most polluting fossil energy sources, and its combustion contributes to the largest portion of global CO2 emissions originating from human activities.
What about CO2 emissions in ASEAN? let’s look at the following graph.
I processed the data above by averaging the total emissions per country each year. It can be seen that the average CO2 emissions in ASEAN have increased from year to year. This correlates with initial findings that there is a positive relationship between GDP and coal use. The more GDP increases, the more coal is used. Increasing coal use will of course increase CO2 emissions into the atmosphere.
Reporting from Down to Earth Indonesia, compared to other fuels, coal produces 66% more CO2 per unit of energy produced. Imagine how much coal contributes to current CO2 emissions. It is our duty as the next generation of the earth to be aware of things like this. It is appropriate that new renewable energy be developed so that the use of coal can be stopped as soon as possible.
Conclusion
This analysis looks at the relationship between coal use, GDP levels, and CO2 emissions in ASEAN countries. What is done in the analysis is still far from perfect. There are still many shortcomings in the analysis, so input from readers plays a very important role for writers to be able to provide motivation and encouragement to create better articles in the future.
The finding from this analysis is that there is a positive relationship between GDP levels and coal use. The higher the GDP of ASEAN countries, the more coal use will increase. This causes another problem, namely the release of CO2 into the air due to burning coal. ASEAN countries must immediately develop EBT so that CO2 emissions can be reduced over time.
However, it should be remembered that to understand the relationship between coal, emissions and the economy in more detail, more in-depth research is needed. This analysis only describes in general the relationship between the three. To make this analysis more in-depth, it is necessary to add several other variables that support this analysis.
Reference:
https://www.macrotrends.net/global-metrics/countries/IDN/indonesia/coal-usage-consumption
