Current global coal prices high and unsustainable, coal lobby chief says

"Nobody is walking away from sustainability but we have to reality test the ambition against what we are actually seeking to achieve," she told Reuters in an interview. Manook said new financers were emerging to fund coal, despite big financial institutions moving away from coal.

Current global coal prices are high and unsustainable, Michelle Manook, chief executive of the World Coal Association (WCA), told Reuters in an interview on Wednesday.

"We are not going to be able to sustain high prices because that is not good for development, it is not good for anyone," Manook said. Coal is considered a heavy polluter and environmentalists warn using it is an obstacle to curbing climate change. Several large mining companies and investment funds have moved to sell off coal assets.

However, global coal prices are trading near record highs due to fears of a supply crunch following the European Commission's decision to ban coal imports from Russia after its invasion of Ukraine. Prices have been rising since the beginning of the year, when top exporter Indonesia imposed a shock ban on exports, following which Russia's invasion of Ukraine pushed Europe to buy coal, pushing prices up further.

Manook said "current world events" have forced a rethink of energy transition. "Nobody is walking away from sustainability but we have to reality test the ambition against what we are actually seeking to achieve," she told Reuters in an interview.

Manook said new financers were emerging to fund coal, despite big financial institutions moving away from coal. "There is a whole bunch of new emerging players, like private equity and the like. That's not to say it is not harder to get financing for coal."

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