The German organization Ergo Volt calculates that 478 billion dollars had been invested into expansion of the coal industry between January 2016 and September 2018 including in Africa.
In Appalachia, coal remains a source of well-paid jobs in a region that needs them: for the first three quarters of 2011 employment in the Appalachian coal industry was at its highest level since 1997.
The Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has reiterated his defense of the coal industry despite conceding that climate change had contributed to the extreme weather fueling the country's bush fires.
Dustin White with the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition and other environmental activists are critical of what they say is the lack of regulation of the powerful chemical and coal industries in West Virginia.
You could talk about the car manufacturing industry or the coal industry or the nuclear power industry or the podcast industry – any collection of companies, any area of business activity can be called an industry.