The poorest people in the world still need coal, such as the Rampal plant currently being built in Bangladesh.

This project was met by intense protest from environmental activists however, including Al Gore.

They contend the coal will damage the adjacent mangrove forests and the endangered Royal Bengal Tiger, despite all appropriate measures being taken in line with international guidelines.

It seems activist's concerns for the world's poor don't amount to much when stacked against other sacred cows, such as their insistence of the evils of coal.