Last year, U.S. President Donald Trump issued sweeping executive orders promoting what he described as a “beautiful,” “clean,” “abundant,” and “cost-effective” energy source. But coal remains the dirtiest fossil fuel and the largest contributor to carbon emissions from fuel combustion. Many countries are transitioning away from coal, opting for cheaper renewables and natural gas.
The Trump administration has turned to a mascot to promote its efforts to revive the dying and dirty coal industry.
U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum posted a seemingly AI-generated picture of himself alongside “Coalie” on social media last month. Dressed in a helmet, boots, and gloves, Coalie was met with widespread backlash online, with critics calling the initiative “complete insanity” and “criminally negligent.”
Coal remains the dirtiest fossil fuel: it is the single-largest source of carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels, accounting for 40% of the total, and is responsible for over 0.3C of the 1.3C increase in global average temperatures since the Industrial Revolution. It is also a major contributor to air pollution.
Coal at Lamma Island’s power station. (Photo: Tom Grundy/hongkongfp.com)
With renewables now more viable and affordable than ever, nations around the world are increasingly moving away from coal. Nearly 60 countries have drastically scaled back their plans for building coal-fired power plants since the Paris Agreement was passed in 2015, including some of the world’s biggest coal users like Turkey, Vietnam, and Japan. Nations including Germany, South Korea, and the UK phased it out altogether.
Last year, President Donald Trump announced sweeping executive orders paving the way for what he calls a “beautiful”, “clean”,“abundant” and “cost effective” energy source. The Energy Department has also ordered that generators at five coal-burning power plants headed for retirement stay open and keep running.
A group of coal miners clap as President Donald Trump signs executive orders on the coal industry on April 8, 2025. (Photo: The White House/Flickr)
But experts warn that keeping these plants running is costly. “The costs are going to fall on somebody. The question is whether it’s the plant owners or the public,” Ari Peskoe, director of Harvard Law School’s Electricity Law Initiative, told the New York Times.
Martina Igini is a journalist and editor with experience covering climate change, extreme weather, climate policy and litigation. At Earth.Org, she curates the news section and multiple newsletters. She singlehandedly manages over 100 global contributing writers and oversees the publication’s editorial calendar. Since joining the newsroom in 2022, she’s successfully grown the monthly audience from 600,000 to more than one million. Before moving to Asia, she worked in Vienna at the United Nations Global Communication Department and in Italy as a reporter at a local newspaper. She holds two BA degrees—in Translation Studies and Journalism—and an MA in International Development from the University of Vienna.