Coal has been a driving force in the world economy and should continue to be in the future. Currently, about 40% of the electricity in the United States is generated through coal power and that number is even higher in other parts of the world. While the EPA is attempting to reduce the carbon emissions of coal, that should have little impact on how well coal companies and coal commodities perform.
There are several ways to play the coal industry as an investor, all of which have the potential of being extremely successful. Coal can be traded as a commodity under the NYMEX:QL, or can be traded through coal mining companies such as Westmoreland Coal (NASDAQ:WLB) and CONSOL Energy (NYSE:CNX). From an international scope, China and India have promising coal corporations like Coal India (NSE:COALINDIA) and Yanzhou Coal Mining (NYSE:YZC).