because it was used to power trains and other vehicles. It is important now as a source of fuel. Coal consumption grew by 2.5% in 2012, well below the 10-year average of 4.4% but still the fastest growing fossil fuel. Consumption outside the OECD rose by a below-average 5.4%; Chinese consumption growth was a below-average 6.1%, but China still accounted for all of the net growth in global coal consumption, and China accounted for more than half of global coal consumption for the rst time. World proved reserves of coal in 2012 were sufficient to meet 109 years of global production, by far the largest R/P ratio for any fossil fuel.
A net total of 20% decrease in world recoverable coal reserves was observed for the past two decades. This downward trend is observed as most countries downgrading their reserves to resources because of economic conditions or environmental restrictions rather than deposits exhaustion although a decline in high quality coal reserves was observed. Another factor to consider is technology, large amount of coal is unrecoverable or unconventional coal lacking technology progress and the need to produce clean coal makes it cost intensive. Apart from this coal producers have reduced the supply well supported by a reduction in demand. The three main catalysts of the coal regression are the increasing competitiveness of natural gas and renewable energy, innovations in energy efficiency and the shifting regulatory landscape. The window for profitable investment in coal mining is closing because of the environmental legislations and availability of low cost alternative fuels. People are reluctant to use coal for its after effects. The reliability for investors was on the low as well. Due to the recent boom in coal exports from China, the coal market is in a state of oversupply that is predicted to last until at least 2015. The resulting lower prices have put pressure on high-cost producers, forcing production cuts and the closure of marginal mines. In the last 20 years, the annual growth in coal demand around the world was most influenced by China and India which alone accounted for 85 percent of the increase. Excluding their markets, global consumption of coal has increased by less than 1 percent annually since 1990. Now banks to put limits to coal financing, India to install solar energy on large scale and China with its proposed ban on importing low grade coal. These emerging global trends are predictive of a lower dependence on coal-produced energy in the next few years. There will be a surge to shift the investment to renewable energy and improving efficiency for petroleum and natural gas.