In the UK, the Department of Trade and Industry＇s Cleaner Coal Technology Programme, managed by ETSU*, provides a focus for the development of clean coal technologies (CCTs) aimed at improving the efficiency, environmental performance and economics of coal use. This paper provides a perspective of CCTs emerging from UK and other research, development and demonstration programmes. Its principal focus is on CCTs for the generation of electricity, the largest single use for coal, and a sector that is set to grow rapidly over the next two decades. However, the paper also describes other important aspects of coal use, bringing out the importance of other steps in the coal-use chain such as modern coal preparation technologies and effective coal handling techniques. It also outlines developments in other coal use applications such as industrial combustion, steel manufacture and coal liquefaction. The paper concludes with a discussion of the likely drivers and barriers to the worldwide uptake of such CCTs.