The Cost of Coal to Climate Change

Wildsight

July 20, 2022

The impacts of climate change are becoming ever more prominent. The frequency of severe weather events is increasing while sea levels rise and ice sheets continue to melt. Climate change is leading to serious environmental and socio-economic consequences. Consequences that are already costing taxpayers billions of dollars. The November 2021 floods in BC cost taxpayers an estimated $9 billion, Canada’s most costly climate disaster to date [1].

The concept of climate change is simple. Incoming solar radiation from the sun enters the Earth’s atmosphere. Some of this radiation is reflected back into space while some is absorbed. A portion of the incoming solar radiation, once it comes in contact with the Earth’s surface, is returned towards the atmosphere as infrared rays (long-wave radiation) – which we feel as heat. As concentrations of greenhouse gases (GHGs) increase in the atmosphere, like carbon dioxide and methane, they absorb more infrared radiation leading to warming. Just like the greenhouse in your garden, GHGs act as a blanket to trap escaping infrared radiation leading to global warming [2].

Like many other fossil fuel-based industries, coal-fired electrical power plants and steel manufacturing release large quantities of carbon dioxide, but the entire process, from exploration to transportation, also releases additional GHGs. These GHGs are emitted during the mining process and during transportation to market. Although steel is a critical component in our everyday lives and will continue to be as we transition away from fossil fuels, alternative manufacturing techniques do exist that can aid in this transition. Below is an inventory of GHG emissions from coal mining in the Elk Valley, followed by the steps required to transition us away from traditional manufacturing into a greener, cleaner future.

Emissions

Mining

Natural-gas fired power plants and homes heated and powered are based on a per annum basis.

Coal mining in the Elk Valley emits approximately 2.6 million tonnes of CO₂ equivalent per year from direct and indirect sources [7]. These direct and indirect sources include power supply, equipment, stationary combustion, and fugitive methane emissions, all of which are required to extract the coal.

Transportation

Coal in the Elk Valley ends up in markets across the globe including South Korea, Japan, China, Poland, Germany, and the Czech Republic. Predominantly, coal is loaded onto trains and transported to shipping terminals like the Neptune Terminal in North Vancouver or Ridley Terminal in Prince Rupert. CP rail emits approximately 3.1 million tonnes of CO₂equivalent per year in the 2.8 million carloads they transport [8]. This equates to approximately 1.1 tonnes of CO₂ equivalent emitted per carload transported via rail. If a train car can transport around 105 tonnes of coal, and Teck Coal Limited exports 25 million tonnes of coal per year, approximately 0.27 million tonnes of CO₂ equivalent is emitted per year through the transportation of coal from mines in the Elk Valley to shipping terminals in Vancouver.

Once the coal has reached either the Neptune or Ridley terminal, bulk carriers are loaded with approximately 80,000 tonnes of coal per ship before departing for their final destination. A voyage from the Neptune Terminal in North Vancouver to the Caofeidian Coal Terminal in China is approximately 10,000 kilometres. Estimates of the per tonne per kilometre emissions for a bulk carrier is between 11 - 42 grams of CO₂ equivalent per kilometre per tonne of material shipped [9]. If all 25 million tonnes of coal exported from the Elk Valley ends up in the Caofeidian terminal, or similarly in Asian markets, emissions from shipping would equate to 2.8 - 10.5 million tonnes of CO₂ equivalent per year (not including ship emissions to port prior to loading).

Steel-Making

Coal produced in the Elk Valley is destined for iron and steel making plants across the globe. Coal plays an important role in converting iron ore into steel in traditional steel making processes, using coke. Coke is coal that has been baked in the absence of oxygen to drive off tar's and gases, resulting in a strong, porous, reactive material used in blasted and basic oxygen furnaces. Coke production accounts for approximately 20% of all CO₂ and CH₄ (methane) emissions in the steel-making process, while the use of coke in the blast and basic oxygen furnaces accounts for 70%. In traditional steel-making, approximately 0.8 tonnes of coal is required to produce 0.6 tonnes of coke, used to produce 1 tonne of steel [5]. 1.85 tonnes of CO₂ is emitted per tonne of steel produced [4]. In the Elk Valley, approximately 25 million tonnes of metallurgical coal is mined and exported per year, equating to 60 million tonnes of CO₂ emitted per year. When methane and other greenhouse gases are incorporated into this estimate, approximately 64 million tonnes of CO₂ equivalent is emitted per year [7]. If this was produced in Canada, it would contribute approximately 8.8% of Canada's total greenhouse gas emissions [6] (based on a national total of 730 million CO₂ equivalent). This estimate is excluding other emission sources associated with the coal mining process like extraction and shipping.

Total Emissions

The contribution of emissions from each of the different emission sources in the steel manufacturing process for coal originating in the Elk Valley. Traditional steel-making with coal is by far the largest emitter of greenhouse gases in the production of steel. Transitioning to a steel-making process that requires less or no coal will drastically reduce global emissions.

Mining contributed 2.6 million tonnes (Mt) of CO₂equivalent per year, while train transportation and shipping contributed between 3.1 - 10.8 Mt of CO₂ equivalent per year. Finally, the steel-making process contributed 64 Mt of CO₂ equivalent per year. The final tally of GHG emissions in the Elk Valley per year is 69.6 – 77.4 million tonnes of CO₂ equivalent. If all of the emissions which result directly from coal originating in the Elk Valley was included in Canada's total greenhouse gas emissions it would contribute approximately 10.6% to total emissions (2019 Canada GHG Inventory: 730 MtCO₂e). If these emissions were included in British Columbia's total greenhouse gas emissions, from coal in the ground to steel in hand, it would increase British Columbia's total greenhouse gas emissions by 115% (2019 BC GHG Inventory: 67.2 MtCO₂e).

If emissions produced through the combustion of coal mined in Canada were included in Canada's GHG inventory it would increase by 9.5 - 10.6% and increase BCs by 103 - 115%.

Moving Towards a Green Future

Steel is a vital commodity and fundamentally important in our current economy, but also fundamentally important in our plan to transition towards a green future. The impact steel manufacturing has on the environment is significant. The production of steel today accounts for 7 - 9% of all fossil fuel based CO₂ emissions, releasing an estimated 3.3 billion tonnes of CO₂ per year. If we aim to meet net zero emissions by 2050, and limit global warming to below 1.5℃, significant changes need to occur in how we manufacture steel.

The process used to manufacture steel has been relatively unchanged since its conception, although due to advancements in efficiency and steel recycling, total energy requirements have dropped significantly since the 1960's. At the turn of the 19th century, open hearth furnaces (BOH) were the predominant method used to mass produce steel from pig iron. By 1952, a new method to mass produce steel using basic oxygen furnaces (BOF) emerged, quickly replacing BOH due to its cost-competitiveness as industrial oxygen became readily available [9]. In a span of 20 years, BOF and electric arc furnaces (EAF) reduced the use of BOH to produce steel to as little as 10% [11].

CO₂ equivalent emissions per metric tonne of steel produced using different steel-making processes [10].

Today, the most common steel manufacturing process is basic oxygen steelmaking (basic oxygen furnace process), which requires coal, in the form of coke, as a carbon source to convert pig iron to steel. Electric arc furnaces (EAF) are the second most common steel manufacturing process, used to recycle scrap-steel with an electric arc. Recent innovations have led to the manufacturing of steel using hydrogen. The first hydrogen pilot plant opened in Sweden in 2019.

Currently, the biggest hurdles associated with shifting to fossil fuel-free steel production centres around cost-competitiveness, hydrogen availability, and the current investments already made into traditional BOF. However, as seen in the transition between HOF to BOF and EAF, industry can transition relatively quickly once costs decrease and continued technological advancements are made in the steel-making process and in hydrogen production. It took 48 years from the discovery of the electron in 1897 by J.J. Thomson to the development of the first nuclear bomb in 1945. Innovations in the steel-making process towards low-emissions fossil fuel-free steel will likely come fast, driving us towards a greener future.

Shifting focus back onto the coal mines in the Elk Valley. Expansion programs, especially the Castle Mountain Mine (Fording River Expansion Project), would extend the lifespan of mines in the Elk Valley into the 2070's, some 48 years. With innovations rapidly coming in steel-making processes, hydrogen production, and green energy, the continued expansion of coal mining in the Elk Valley until 2070 doesn't seem like a smart long term investment.

Coal Mining from a Global Perspective

This is the third instalment in a five-part series examining the risks and impacts of coal mining within the Elk Valley and Canada. Please join us as we dive into detail on the cost coal mining has had on the environment, human health, and climate change, before presenting solutions to the current crisis.

BACK TO PART 2: Human health

BACK TO PART 1: Overview