Coal loses ground in Brazil's energy mix

Market: Coal, Emissions
09/09/24

Brazil's recently launched national energy transition policy barely mentions coal, highlighting the steady decrease of its usage in the country, slipping to just 4.4pc of Brazil's energy mix in 2023, according to energy research firm EPE.

Since 2014, Brazilian coal usage has declined steadily, losing 5.7 percentage points of its share of the energy mix. From 2022 to 2023 coal usage fell by 5pc, according to the latest national energy balance report.

Brazil's total energy consumption in 2023 grew by 3.5pc from the previous year, reaching 282.5mn metric tonnes of oil equivalent (mtoe).

The industrial sector was responsible for 31.8pc of all energy consumption in 2023. Sugarcane bagasse is the sector's main energy source, with a more than a 20pc share. But 11.6pc of Brazil's steel sector still uses coking coal as a feedstock, although that fell by 5pc from the previous year.

Natural gas has averaged a 10.4pc share of industrial energy demand over the past 20 years, oscillating between 8.8-11.4pc, according to EPE data, and reached 9.5 in 2023.

Overall, renewable energy sources account for 49pc of the Brazilian energy mix, against a worldwide average of 15pc, according to the International Energy Agency data.

Brazil's new energy transition policy will involve a flurry of renewable sources, such as wind, solar, hydro, biomass, biodiesel, ethanol, green diesel, carbon capture and storage, sustainable aviation fuel and green hydrogen, mines and energy minister Alexandre Silveira said.

By Betina Moura

Brazilian industrial energy sources, 2023 pc

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