Coal is still the major source of electricity generation in many countries including China, USA and others. China has plenty of coal and uses most of the coal mined for domestic power generation. In the US, coal is mined heavily from states like West Virginia and used in power plants.

One way to invest in coal stocks is to review the Russell Global Coal Index which measures the performance of all coal related stocks. There are 52 stocks from 17 countries in this index.

The ETFX Russell Global Coal Mining Fund ETF (KOAL.L) from ETF Securities tracks the Russell Global Coal Index. As of September, 2009 the Russell Global Coal Index is up 152% compared to 3.6% for the S&P 500.

The Top 10 Holdings from the ETFX Russell Global Coal Mining Fund are listed below:

1 China Shenhua Energy Co Ltd
China

2 Peabody Energy Corp. (BTU)
USA

3 Consol Energy Inc. (CNX)
USA

4 China Coal Energy Co
China

5 Bumi Resources Tbk PT
Indonesia

6 Alpha Natural Resources Inc. (ANR)
USA

7 Arch Coal Inc. (ACI)
USA

8 Walter Energy (WLT)
USA

9 Yanzhou Coal Mining Co Ltd
China

10 Massey Energy Co. (MEE)
USA