Katy Daigle

Associated Press

In this Monday, Dec. 14, 2015, file photo, Indian women use bare hands to pick reusable pieces from heaps of used coal discarded by a carbon factory in Gauhati, India. The world’s biggest coal users - China, the United States and India - have boosted coal mining in 2017, in an abrupt departure from last year’s record global decline for the heavily polluting fuel and a setback to efforts to rein in climate change emissions.

Coal Surges in China, U.S., India

Production through May is up by at least 121 million tons, or 6 percent, for the three countries compared to the same period last year.

In this Feb. 28, 2017 file photo, a passenger airliner flies past steam and white smoke emitted from a coal-fired power plant in Beijing. Led by cutbacks in China and India, construction of new coal-fired power plants is falling worldwide, improving chances climate goals can be met despite earlier pessimism, three environmental groups said Wednesday, March 22, 2017.

Climate Improving as Coal Declines

China, the biggest greenhouse gas emitter, had said that its coal use would rise until 2030. But later data showed the peak passed in 2013 and consumption is falling.