U.S. Coal Use Jumps 10% in 2025, Driving 3.2% Emissions Spike – Report

For climate watchers, the U.S. is now the world’s biggest emissions backslider. A 10% surge in coal burning—triggered by high natural gas prices—pushed total U.S. greenhouse gas output up 3.2% year-over-year, erasing years of progress and pushing per capita pollution to nearly double that of China. This report lands as global electricity demand, fueled by AI and EVs, soars faster than clean power can keep up.

In 2025, global carbon dioxide emissions from energy rose 1.1% to 35,806 million tonnes, and the United States was the single largest driver of that increase. The Energy Institute’s annual review, published on June 30, 2026, reveals that the U.S. accounted for roughly one-third of the global CO2 rise, with its total greenhouse gas emissions growing 3.2% year-on-year. This was a stark reversal of a decade-long trend that saw North American emissions declining by 0.7% annually. The primary culprit: U.S. coal consumption surged 10% in 2025, as higher natural gas prices pushed power producers back to the cheaper, more polluting fuel.

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While China remained the world’s largest emitter at 31.3% of total energy-sector CO2, its emissions grew by a modest 0.7%—far less than the 3.2% spike in the U.S.

The global context makes the U.S. backsliding even more consequential. While China remained the world’s largest emitter at 31.3% of total energy-sector CO2, its emissions grew by a modest 0.7%—far less than the 3.2% spike in the U.S. Europe’s emissions inched up just 0.5%. On a per-capita basis, the disparity is stark: an average American emitted 15.36 tonnes of CO2 in 2025, nearly double the 8.92 tonnes per person in China. This underscores that the U.S., with its high consumption patterns and now-resurgent coal use, is the standout laggard in the global clean energy transition.

Beneath the headline numbers, the report tells a more complex story of competing forces. Global energy demand continued to climb, with total primary energy supply up 1.7%. Renewables made the largest contribution to that increase—generation from renewable sources jumped 9.1%, led by a 30% surge in solar. Yet this clean energy boom wasn’t enough to offset the growth in demand, especially for electricity. Electricity consumption rose 3% in 2025, outpacing supply additions, driven by electric vehicles, data centers, and artificial intelligence. This structural demand shock means that even rapid renewables deployment may struggle to decarbonize the grid if fossil fuels remain the default gap-filler.

The U.S. coal renaissance is a direct result of market dynamics. In 2024 and into 2025, natural gas prices rose, making coal more economically attractive for electricity generation. The result was a 10% jump in U.S. coal burning that erased emissions reductions achieved in previous years. This price sensitivity underscores the vulnerability of climate progress to commodity market swings. It also exposes a policy gap: without a strong carbon price or regulatory backstop, short-term fuel price spikes can easily reverse hard-won emissions declines.

Globally, oil consumption rose 1.3% to 103 million barrels per day, and gas demand growth was concentrated in Europe, the Middle East, and North America. Notably, China’s gasoline and diesel use fell for a second consecutive year, reflecting its rapid EV adoption—another sign that the energy transition is progressing unevenly around the world. While the U.S. backslid, other major actors showed more encouraging trends, but the net result was still a rise in total emissions.