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Over the past 18 months the coal-fired capacity outside of China has shrunk, but China continues to drastically increase the amount of coal-fired power plants, according to a study from Global Energy Monitor. China grew their coal-fired plants by 42.9 gigawatts (GW), while the rest of the world saw a decrease of 8.1 GW, averaging out to a net growth of 34.9 GW globally. While the country is a clean energy leader, the amount of coal usage has yet to slow. According to Global Energy Monitor, this large growth of coal is not compatible with the Paris Agreement’s plan to keep global warming to below 2 degrees Celsius.

U.S. shale production has sustained a years-long boom of rapid growth, but that appears to be coming to an end sooner rather than later.  Following a mixed bag of earnings reports from shale executives, the common belief is that the growth frenzy is slowing down and coming to an end.  According to World Oil, “The key challenge for producers now is to meet investors’ new focus on return of capital.  This comes at a time when companies are facing a prolonged period of lower prices and when access to financing from capital markets has become difficult.”