Russia’s Coal Collapse signals the end of the fossil era. From bankrupt mines to battery booms, the global energy transition is accelerating but facing political resistance.
The article is specifically about Russia’s coal industry […]
No, it is not only about Russian coal. If you read on, a few paragraphs later you find:
A Parallel Story: U.S. Coal Auctions Without Buyers
Russia’s implosion is mirrored — though for different reasons — in the United States, where the fossil sector is facing structural decline not from sanctions, but from market irrelevance.
In October 2025, a federal coal lease auction in Montana attracted just one bid: $186,000 for 167 million tons of coal — roughly $0.001 per ton, a 99.9 percent collapse in value versus a similar 2012 sale at $1.10 per ton. The Department of the Interior then postponed additional auctions in Wyoming and Utah, citing “market conditions.” Analysts read the signal plainly: the market has priced coal out of future portfolios.
No, it is not only about Russian coal. If you read on, a few paragraphs later you find: