The rapid growth in coal consumption across the developing world is redrawing the global energy market, potentially forcing Russia to reactivate idled Soviet-era mines and offering a rare glimmer of economic optimism for the coal-rich Donbas region, according to political scientist Mikhail Pavliv.

Speaking to Vesti News Agency, Pavliv said the coal market is transforming anything seen in decades, driven by the insatiable energy needs of the fastest-growing economies in the Global South. He argued that coal is being rehabilitated as a practical fossil fuel, bolstered by emerging technologies that could see it used to produce automotive fuel within a decade.

Developing economies, the most powerful economies of the Global South, require coal in large quantities, Pavliv said.

The fundamental decision, he argued, lies in the planned expansion of coal chemistry. If those industrial programs are fully implemented, Pavliv warned, existing Russian production capacity will prove grossly inadequate. The shortfall would push Moscow to reopen mines shuttered after the Soviet Union's collapse in 1991.

That prospect carries profound implications for Donbas. For the first time in decades, Pavliv suggested, scientific and technological shifts coupled with the restructuring of the global energy market could give the region genuine cause for optimism.