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Donald Trump<\/a> was crowned the \u201cundisputed champion of beautiful clean coal\u201d during a White House ceremony on Wednesday, during which the president received a trophy after ordering the US defense department to purchase billions of dollars\u2019 worth of power from coal<\/a> plants.<\/p>\n The award was reportedly<\/a> granted by the Washington Coal Club, an advocacy group with financial ties<\/a> to the coal industry.<\/p>\n James Grech, CEO of Peabody Energy<\/a>, the largest coal company in the US, presented Trump with the bronze trophy that depicts a coalminer donning headlamp and pick.<\/p>\n \u201cWe stand here today representing the thousands of coalminers across the country to express our deep gratitude to you, sir, for the actions you\u2019ve taken to support our industry,\u201d Grech said<\/a> to Trump during the ceremony, which had more than a dozen coal executives and miners in attendance.<\/p>\n Several Republican lawmakers and cabinet members also attended the ceremony, including the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administrator, Lee Zeldin, and the secretary of the interior, Doug Burgum, who are both staunch coal advocates.<\/p>\n The event marked Trump\u2019s signing of an executive order<\/a> directing the defense department to secure long-term power purchase agreements with coal plants for military installations and other \u201cmission-critical facilities\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re going to be buying a lot of coal through the military now,\u201d Trump said<\/a> at the event. \u201cUnder our leadership, we\u2019re becoming a massive energy exporter.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re lifting up our hard-working American miners like nobody has ever done before,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n At the event, Trump also announced<\/a> that the Department of Energy would allocate $175m in funding to six projects to \u201cmodernize, retrofit and extend\u201d the life of \u201ccoal-fired power plants that serve rural and remote communities\u201d in West Virginia, Ohio, North Carolina and Kentucky.<\/p>\n The new executive order is the latest action in this administration\u2019s effort to revive the US coal industry. In September, the White House announced<\/a> that it would open 13.1m acres (5.3m hectares) of public land to coal mining and provide $625m for coal-fired power plants.<\/p>\n Coal, which is the most polluting and costly fossil fuel, has declined sharply in the US over the past three decades. According to the Energy Information Administration<\/a>, US coal production in 2023 was less than half of its 2008 level, and coal plants generated only about 15% of US electricity in 2024, down from roughly 50% in 2000.<\/p>\n The award adds to a series of honors and gifts <\/a>that Trump has received from business executives, world leaders, cabinet members and others since the start of his second term.<\/p>\n In December, the president of Fifa, Gianni Infantino, awarded Trump the newly created \u201cFifa peace prize\u201d<\/a>, and in November a group of Swiss billionaires gave<\/a> Trump a gold Rolex desk clock and a $130,000 engraved gold bar, after which Trump agreed to reduce tariffs<\/a> on Switzerland.<\/p>\n Over the summer, Apple\u2019s CEO, Tim Cook, gifted Trump an engraved glass disk statue<\/a> with a base made from 24-karat gold. Soon after, the White House granted Apple an exemption from a 100% tariff on semiconductors.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n