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Canada's NDP environment critic Laurel Collins presented her own bill on February 14 to ban Canada's thermal coal exports, local media reported.
Canada's thermal coal exports reached an eight-year year high in 2022, despite the Liberals' pledge to ban exports completely by 2030.
The country exported 8.23 million tonnes of thermal coal in 2022, surging 60% from a year ago, which were more than eight times comparted to 2018's exports, showed data from the Canadian government.
In 2018, thermal coal exports hit a low of 1 million tonnes, and the volume registered substantial hikes since then.
Collins noted that coal is likely to worsen climate crisis as it will produce more emissions than other fossil fuels to make the same amount of electricity. 2022's thermal coal exports would produce 18 million tonnes of greenhouse gases, equivalent to the annual emissions of approximately 4 million passenger vehicles.
Exports of coal through Canada reached 14 million tonnes in 2018, and then dropped to 10 million tonnes in 2022, data showed.
Additionally, during the first ten months of 2023, Canada's coal output totaled 39.82 million tonnes, rising 9.2% compared to the previous year, according to official statistics.
The Liberals have already launched a policy to phase out coal-fired power plants in Canada by 2030, unless they are able to capture and store greenhouse gas emissions. They have also co-proposed a global initiative with the United Kingdom to phase out coal, reducing coal-fired power generation in the world.
Domestic coal use in Canada has slumped in recent years. Ontario's previous Liberal government was in the progress of closing all coal-fired power plants even before the phase-out policy. Only Alberta, Saskatchewan, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick still rely on coal-fired power generation. But Alberta will close its last coal-fired power plant this year.
However, global coal demand continued rising, hitting record highs in 2022 and 2023, according to the International Energy Agency.
Considerable growth in natural gas prices and power demand also contributed to high coal needs, Statistics Canada said.
(Writing by yan.sun Editing by Harry Huo)
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