Methodology
The Global Coal Exit List identifies companies along the thermal coal value chain. This includes coal miners and coal power producers, but also companies involved in coal exploration, processing, trading, transport & logistics, equipment manufacturing, coal-related maintenance and engineering services, and coal-to-liquids and coal-to-gas production. GCEL 2023 covers over 1400 parent companies and more than 1900 subsidiaries and joint ventures. It does not currently cover coal used for cement or steel production.
Which companies end up on GCEL?
Companies are listed on GCEL based on three clearly defined criteria.
The company is developing...
new coal mines
new coal-fired power plants
new coal-related infrastructure
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GCEL includes companies that are pursuing coal power or coal mining or coal infrastructure expansion plans. The following companies fulfill the expansion criteria:
- Power: Companies planning to develop new coal-fired power capacity of at least 100 MW.
- Mining: Companies engaged in coal exploration activities, planning to develop new coal mines or extending existing coal mines.
- Services: Companies involved in the development or expansion of coal transportation assets or other coal-related infrastructure such as coal-to-gas facilities.
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The company's...
coal share of revenue (csr) is ≥ 10 %
coal share of power production (cspp) is ≥ 10 %
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All companies that have a coal share of revenue or a coal share of power production of 10% or more are listed on GCEL.
The coal share of revenue (csr) measures the share of a company’s coal-related business with regard to its total revenue. Wherever possible, GCEL differentiates between business activities related to thermal and metallurgical coal.
For utilities, we calculate the coal share of power production (cspp) based on annual coal power generation or installed capacity.
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The company's...
annual thermal coal production is ≥ 10 Mt pa
coal-fired generation capacity is ≥ 5 GW
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GCEL includes all companies that have an annual thermal coal production of ≥10 million tons or that have an installed coal-fired capacity of ≥5GW.
These criteria are based on the absolute size of a company’s coal operations. They ensure that all of the world’s largest coal players are featured on GCEL, even if they do not meet our relative criteria. This is important because some of the world’s largest coal miners and coal plant operators are diversified companies. Their coal share of revenue may be below 10%, but this doesn’t make their activities less harmful.
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Sources
GCEL is based on publicly available information. Relevant coal-related data is mainly extracted from the companies' own reporting, such as company websites, annual reports, financial reports, credit rating reports, investor presentations, and stock exchange filings. In some countries, we also draw on government-owned regional or national websites. In China, bidding websites with reliable information about companies, university websites, and recruitment websites are used as additional sources. To make sure we do not miss any expansion projects, we check the Global Energy Monitor’s Global Coal Plant Tracker and its Global Coal Mine Tracker.
We always utilize the most recent information we can find during the research period. But of course, no database is perfect. If you have information that can help us improve our database, feel free to get in touch with us at coalexit [at] urgewald.org (coalexit[at]urgewald[dot]org).