U.S. President Donald Trump signed executive orders on Tuesday, April 8, 2025, that aim to boost coal production in his latest action that runs counter to global efforts to curb carbon emissions.
Coal-burning plants generate less than 20% of U.S. electricity, a drop from 50% in 2000, according to the Energy Information Administration, as fracking and other drilling techniques have hiked production of natural gas. Growth in solar and wind power has also cut coal use.
“We’re bringing back an industry that was abandoned,” Trump said at the White House, standing in front of about three dozen mostly male coal miners wearing hard hats.
“We’re going to put the miners back to work,” Trump said about a workforce that has sunk to about 40,000 from 70,000 10 years ago.
Trump, a Republican, campaigned on a promise to increase U.S. energy output and has sought to roll back energy and environmental regulations since taking office on January 20.
U.S. electricity demand is rising for the first time in two decades on growth in power-hungry data centres for artificial intelligence, electric vehicles, and cryptocurrencies.
The orders include efforts to save coal plants that were likely to be retired, including by unlocking authorities in the 1950 Defense Production Act to boost coal production.
They also direct Energy Secretary Chris Wright to determine whether coal used in steel production is a “critical mineral.” Allowing that classification, typically reserved for minerals needed for high-tech defense systems, for metallurgical coal could set the table for use of emergency powers to raise production.
Another order, opens new tab asked the U.S. Attorney General to identify state climate laws that are an obstacle to developing energy resources like coal, and try to stop them from being enforced.
After Trump signed the orders, Wright’s department made $200 billion in financing available for its loan programmes office including for new coal technologies.
In a reaction to the development, environment watchdog, 350.org, condemned Trump’s action, describing the executive orders on coal as “reckless”.
The group tagged the initiative as “a dangerous fantasy that endangers us all”.
Anne Jellema, Executive Director, 350.org, said: “President Trump’s latest attempt to force-feed coal to the US is a dangerous fantasy that endangers our health, our economy, and our future. Let’s be clear: there is no such thing as ‘clean coal.’ There is only coal – one of the dirtiest fossil fuels driving climate breakdown, harming communities, and polluting the air we all breathe. No executive order can change the science, the economics, or the reality on the ground: coal is dying, and renewable energy must be the future.
“Trump’s use of the Defense Production Act to ‘turbocharge’ coal is an abuse of power. It’s a handout to polluters dressed up as patriotism. It ignores the fact that while only 41,000 people work in coal, nearly 280,000 Americans already work in solar. Instead of doubling down on the past, we should invest in good, unionised jobs in clean energy, prioritising the workers and communities most impacted by the shift.
“At a time when we face record wildfires, floods, and rising climate migration, we need bold action, not cynical handouts to polluters.”