Global Coal Demand Hits Record 8.85 Billion Metric Tonnes

The assessment is based on overwhelmingly consistent evidence from high-authority sources. The most crucial piece of evidence is the official press release from the International Energy Agency (IEA), which is the primary source for this data. This source directly confirms that global coal demand is on course to reach a record 8.85 billion tonnes. This central claim is directly and consistently corroborated by several other reliable sources. Another highly authoritative source, an official post from the IEA, confirms that coal use reached an all-time high. Furthermore, multiple independent secondary sources, including a specialized energy industry news outlet (OilPrice.com) and news aggregators, all report the exact same figure of 8.85 billion tonnes and correctly attribute it to the IEA. There is no conflicting evidence presented; the sources that were deemed irrelevant or unreliable did not offer any counter-claims but were simply off-topic. The unanimity across the primary source and multiple strong corroborating sources provides a high degree of confidence in the statement's truthfulness.