According to Reuters, the energy crisis generated by the conflicts that are taking place in Eastern Europe caused gas prices to climb in 2022, which is why a number of nations turned to coal as the ultimate option to keep the energy sector alive for now.

Hydropower and even nuclear power plants faced challenges this year, due to droughts and heatwaves, which caused water levels to go down.

Researchers at the IEA say that the use of coal this year will rise by 1.2% this year to a historic high of 8.3 billion tons and they believe that the same trend will continue until 2025.

This is due to the fact that, despite the effort of many countries to switch to renewables, many Asian economies could rely even more on coal to meet power demand.

India is expected to have the highest increase in coal demand at 7%, followed by the EU at 6% and China at 0.4%, with Europe's use expected to drop by 2025 below 2022 levels.

Keisuke Sadamori, the IEA’s director of energy markets and security, said that "the world is close to a peak in fossil fuel use, with coal set to be the first to decline, but we are not there yet."

China, India and Indonesia are the world's first three countries with regards to power generated from coal-fired plants.