The head of Europe’s coal lobby has said that his industry will be “hated and vilified in the same way that slave-traders were once hated and vilified” as a result of the Paris climate deal, in an extraordinary diatribe sent to his members and press outlets.

Last weekend, the world’s governments agreed to cut greenhouse gas emissions in a momentous pact aiming at holding global warming to 2C.

While oil and gas associations professed themselves happy with a Paris agreement they believe gives a fillip to natural gas prospects, the coal industry fears it will be squashed by a clean energy juggernaut.

In his letter, Brian Ricketts, Euracoal’s secretary-general, lashed out at what he called “mob rule” by a cabal of world governments and protesters at the Paris climate summit which posed a threat to democracy itself.