In its latest energy investment report , the International Energy Agency said energy companies continued investing in coal as demand for electricity continued growing fast and renewable and nuclear capacity additions couldn’t keep up. But, the agency said, “decisions to invest in coal-fired power plants declined to their lowest level this century and retirements rose.” When something happens for the first time in a century, it’s definitely worth mentioning, especially if it marks the change in a persistent trend. This is not to say that coal power will be eliminated from the world’s energy mix within the lifetime of those who are now in their thirties and forties. Yet the fact that last year retirements of coal plants exceeded the number of final investment decisions on new ones suggests we may be witnessing peak coal. Bloomberg’s David Fickling notes in a commentary piece on IEA’s report that coal capacity […]