Coal-Fired Power Plants and Deforestation: The Two Main Contributors to Global Warming

Abstract

The heat wave of Summer 2023 – in an analogy to the heat waves in recent summers – positioned global warming at the front of world media websites. While any media attention is an important means to presenting the problem before a large audience, and respectively, reporters’ opinions are a welcome contribution to the ongoing debates, my overall impression from the media coverage is one of a rudimentary approach. For instance, the fact of growing greenhouse gas emissions over the years is mentioned, however the contributing factors are not ranked in importance.

Generalizing about the burning of fossil fuels can hardly be considered as the optimal path toward outlining the possible solutions to the problem of global warming. And since quality solutions require precise problem definitions, this paper suggests that two main areas deserve special attention: coal-fired power plants and deforestation. The empirical evidence is compelling: in 2022, 26.4% of global CO2 emissions came from coal plants – more than the entire transport sector, and if deforestation was a country, it would have ranked third worldwide for CO2 emissions (behind China and USA).

Keywords: Global warming, Climate change, Deforestation, Greenhouse gas emissions, Coal

JEL Classification: Q01, Q42, Q48, Q53, Q54, Q55, Q58