As we heard from Jojo Mehta, the co-founder of Stop Ecocide, companies aren’t going to magically change their ways to save the world unless we literally force them to do it.

Check out her interview with Mila here:

Last week, we heard from Leah Stokes, who broke down howcompanies and utilities in the energy sector actively undermine attempts torein in carbon emissions. Before that, we heard from eminent scientists likeKatherine Richardson and activists like Bill McKibben who agree that it isn’ttoo late yet, but unless we change our fossil fuel consumption we’restaring at a hot, bleak future.

The world has woken up to climate change, and it’s widelyknown that coal is one of the dirtiest sources of power around. So why are weusing so much of it, and why isn’t that likely to change?

To start, it’s worth noting how truly awful coal is for theplanet, and for people. According to the U.S. Energy InformationAdministration’s list of fossil fuels ranked by CO2 emissions per Btu (BritishThermal Unit), coal is ranked number one. It’s also number two, number three,and number four (differentkinds of coal). We think of natural gas as terrible for the environment –and it is – but coal releases nearly twice the amount of CO2 per Btu.

Accordingto Our World in Data, approximately five million people die prematurely every yearfrom air pollution. High end estimates in the US credit coal with about52,000 deaths a year thanks to fine particulate matter. The Health and EnvironmentAlliance estimate the sickness caused by coal costs Europe (and only Europe)about $70Bper year.

On top of this, coal mining is incrediblydangerous, because it releases flammable methane and coal dust whenextracted. Stripmining and mountaintop removal are safer for workers, but horrific for thelocal ecosystems.

Coal is an extremely dirty fuel source and extracting it isdangerous for humans and devastating for nature. So why do we still use so muchof it?

The answer, as with most ecologically destructive practices,is money. Firstly, coalis abundant and cheap. It’s cheap because we still live in a world wherecarbon emissions are not taxed (which our guest JerryTaylor advocates changing). It’sreasonably efficient at creating electricity, and its abundance makes ithighly viable from an economic standpoint.

Coal is also still the dominant energy source in 18states because the infrastructureis already there. It’s cheaper to continue using existing facilities tocreate dirty power than to transition plants, workers, and parts of the gridover to renewables. LeahStokes explained to us last week that many utility companies around thecountry sunk debt into building, renewing, and refitting coal plants in thelast 20 years. If they abandon these plants to switch to green energy, they’reeating that debt. For many, it makes more sense to continue operating theseplants until they have paid off their debt, which is years or decades away.

Despite this, coal usage is decreasing rapidly in the US. Itfell 18% in 2019, the largest fall ever recorded, and it’snot about to have a comeback, thanks to falling oil and renewable prices. Thestory elsewhere, especially in China and Southeast Asia, is the opposite. Accordingto the NewYork Times, China burns half the world’s coal every year. Japan has addedcoal back to its energy roster because of the 2011 Fukushimadisaster. There are an additional 1,200 coal-powered plants underconstruction in Asia, as developing nations try to meet the energy demands of agrowing populace. There is hope some of these facilities can be short-term, butonce the plants are built, they’re likely to stay in operation for as long aseconomically feasible.

With coal, as with so much in the climate fight, the bottomline is money. We can still change environmental policy, subsidize renewables, andphase out fossil fuels, but that window is closing, and closing fast.

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