Bangladesh continues to rely heavily on imported fossil fuels while the world moves rapidly toward renewable energy. Although global coal-fired power capacity increased 3.5 per cent in 2025, actual coal-based electricity generation fell 0.6 per cent.
The findings, highlighted in the international report Boom and Bust Coal 2026 released on Thursday by Global Energy Monitor, reflect the accelerating expansion of solar and wind power meeting rising electricity demand worldwide.
The report highlights Bangladesh as one of the countries struggling to adapt to the global energy transition. Outside India, coal-based electricity systems in South Asia remain heavily dependent on imported fuel, and Bangladesh faces persistent technical problems and fuel supply disruptions in its fossil-fuel-based power sector.
Despite the global boom in renewable energy, the country has yet to build substantial renewable capacity and continues to rely on costly coal and liquefied natural gas (LNG), contributing to power shortages, rising energy import bills, and pressure on foreign exchange reserves.
In neighbouring Pakistan, distributed solar power has expanded rapidly in recent years, reducing exposure to volatile fossil fuel markets. By contrast, Bangladesh remains heavily dependent on imported energy sources vulnerable to global price shocks and supply instability.
Globally, the report points to a widening disconnect between new coal plant construction and actual coal use. Even as some countries continue building coal plants, many are burning less coal as renewables grow faster and more cheaply.
The trend is particularly visible in China and India. In China, coal power capacity rose 6 per cent in 2025, but coal-based generation fell 1.2 per cent. India saw a similar pattern, with capacity increasing 3.8 per cent while generation dropped 2.9 per cent as solar and wind met most new electricity demand.
Global Energy Monitor Christine Shearer said, “In 2025, the world built more coal power plants but used less coal. Development has become more concentrated—95 per cent of coal plant construction is now in China and India.
Yet even there, solar and wind are expanding fast enough to replace coal.” She added that policy support, not technology or cost, remains the biggest obstacle to moving away from coal.
Only 32 countries proposed or built new coal plants in 2025, compared with 75 in 2014. Today, just 5 per cent of global coal development occurs outside China and India.
Latin America declared an end to new coal projects in 2025, and South Korea is advancing toward a complete coal phase-out policy. Coal plant retirements remain slow, with nearly 70 per cent of units scheduled for retirement in 2025 still operational, particularly in the European Union and the United States.
The report was jointly prepared by more than 20 international organisations, including Bangladesh Working Group on Ecology and Development and Waterkeepers Bangladesh.
It concludes that the global transition away from coal is becoming increasingly irreversible, but countries like Bangladesh risk falling behind unless policies decisively shift toward renewable energy and reduce dependence on imported fossil fuels.
