Burning the world’s proven reserves of fossil fuels would emit more planet-heating emissions than have occurred since the industrial revolution, easily blowing the remaining carbon budget before societies are subjected to catastrophic global heating, a new analysis has found.

The U.N. Secretary General issued a stark warning Monday, saying the planet had emerged from last year’s COP26 summit in Glasgow with “a certain naïve optimism” and was “sleepwalking to climate catastrophe.” In remarks delivered to The Economist’s Sustainability Week via video link, Antonio Guterres sketched out a picture of where he felt the world stood when it came to tackling global warming.

Environmentalists in Montana called it the “death watch”. Following years of financial losses one of the handful of remaining coal-fired power plants in the state appeared doomed, its likely fate offering a small but noteworthy victory in the effort to avoid disastrous climate change. But then a bitcoin mining company stepped in to resurrect it.

Australia's largest coal-fired power station will close seven years earlier than planned, as its operator says it is increasingly unable to compete with the "influx of renewables". The 2.88 gigawatt Eraring plant is located in the Hunter region north of Sydney and operated by Origin Energy.

Electric customers across Ohio spent an estimated $211 million over the last two years bailing out two coal-fired power plants that continue losing millions per year, according to new data from state regulators.

China produced more coal than ever last year as its power stations struggled to meet demand for electricity, undermining plans to curb carbon emissions. While the surge in output helped bring the power crisis under control, coal prices are creeping up yet again this year amid expectations that China is going to need even more of the fossil fuel to power its economic recovery.

The 1600W Moorburg hard coal (black coal) power station in Hamburg was closed down for good on July 7, reported public broadcaster Tagesschau, just six years after it was opened. After successfully participating in a government decommissioning tender for payment in return for an early shut down, the 1600MW plant had stopped market operation at the end of 2020 and was only kept operational as a back-up reserve.

Former hedge fund manager, host of CNBC’s "Mad Money" and investment guru Jim Cramer declared in January of last year he was “done with fossil fuels… we’re in the death knell phase. They’re tobacco.” Not everyone was so sure about this at that time — but now there’s no disputing it. Fossil fuels are definitively the new tobacco, and we are witnessing a historic moment in real-time: The end of the fossil fuel age. Here are the latest markers of the fossil fuel industry’s accelerating implosion.

The U.S. government can tap nearly $38 billion from existing federal funds to revitalize communities hard hit by the closure of coal mines or coal-fired power plants, a White House-appointed group wrote in a report for President Joe Biden released on Friday.

The world’s biggest 60 banks have provided $3.8tn of financing for fossil fuel companies since the Paris climate deal in 2015, according to a report by a coalition of NGOs. Despite the Covid-19 pandemic cutting energy use, overall funding remains on an upward trend and the finance provided in 2020 was higher than in 2016 or 2017, a fact the report’s authors and others described as “shocking”.

A judge says U.S officials downplayed climate change impacts and other environmental costs from the expansion of a massive coal mine near the Montana-Wyoming border, in a case that could test how far the Biden administration is willing to go to unwind its predecessors' decisions.

The three 775-foot smokestacks of the 2,250-megawatt Navajo Generating Station (NGS) — the West’s largest coal plant — were demolished December 18, symbolically marking the end of coal’s dominance in a region where renewable energy sources like wind and solar have become far cheaper.

Towering above Lake Michigan north of the Wisconsin border, the Oak Creek coal-fired power plant is one of the largest sources of toxic metals dumped into American waterways. Only six other power plants nationwide released more arsenic, lead, mercury and other metals into lakes and rivers last year, according to a Chicago Tribune analysis of federal records. On the shores of Lake Michigan, no other polluter comes close.

Vectren, US energy company servicing the state of Indiana, has announced plans to shift from what is a nearly an all coal generation business to producing nearly two thirds of its total energy from renewable energy sources by 2025. Announced on Monday during the company’s public stakeholder meeting, Vectren – which is a subsidiary of American Fortune 500 electric and gas utility CenterPoint Energy – revealed a final Integrated Resources Plan (IRP) which will serve to reduce the utility’s reliance on fossil fuels and lower its carbon emissions by nearly 75% on 2005 levels.

Two weeks ago, we covered a US Energy Information Administration (EIA) projection that renewable wind, solar, and hydroelectric power would top coal for total electricity generation in 2020. That was particularly believable given that renewables had beat coal in daily generation every day going back to March 24. As it happens, that daily streak finally came to an end this week, as coal picked up amid rising demand and a couple of low days for wind. Coal likely topped renewables on Tuesday, although it’s possible that rooftop solar generation (not included in EIA’s daily data) extended the run until Wednesday.

The pandemic-induced global financial meltdown has rocked the fossil fuel industry, leaving American drilling and fracking companies begging for bailouts. Then things slid from crisis to catastrophe as crude prices temporarily plunged into negative territory, leading President Donald Trump to tweet this week that he would "never let the great U.S. Oil & Gas Industry down," signaling his renewed push to use taxpayers' money to throw fossil fuels a federal lifeline.

Warren Buffett, probably the world’s most successful investor, a man noted for the conservatism of his investment policy and aversion to high tech, wants out of coal? Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway controls a string of electric utilities that, in the past, burned plenty of coal. One of his largest utility holdings, PacifiCorp controls coal burning utilities throughout the west. It wants to phase out coal-burning power stations in Wyoming. Reason: according to a PacifiCorp official, a combination of renewables and energy storage is “really lower-cost than continuing to operate some of our existing fleet.” Notice the wording.

China’s efforts to wean itself off coal are losing steam, as the world’s biggest carbon emitter is putting economic growth and energy security above its ambitions to be a leader in combating climate change. Coal consumption is back near peak levels after rebounding over the past three years, despite China’s pledges to make steep cuts in what is the country’s most prevalent and polluting source of energy. The country is building more coal-fired plant capacity than the rest of the world combined.

“Exxon knew.” Thanks to the work of activists and journalists, those two words have rocked the politics of climate change in recent years, as investigations revealed the extent to which giants like Exxon Mobil and Shell were aware of the danger of rising greenhouse gas emissions even as they undermined the work of scientists.

The fuel that powered the industrial revolution may be in decline at last. This year looks set to see the largest fall in electricity production from coal on record, according to a new report. The reduction is estimated to be more than the power generated from coal in Germany, Spain and the UK combined.