Yet today's coal is far cleaner burning, than earlier versions.  Power plant "scrubbers" are responsible for this.  But with natural gas much cheaper these days, that's the even better choice.  And that's how the US has been leading the globe in CO2 reductions. 

Image Title: Global CO2 reductions   Image Info: Chart showing the US as the global leader in efforts for reducing CO2 emissions, thru 2016. And for the yr 2017, US emissions of CO2 were even less -- at a 25 year low, under the Trump administration.  Notice that China & India are among the major countries missing.