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Countries within the Organization for Economic Cooperation and
Development (OECD) policy forum and the European Union are on
track to close more than 75% of their coal power capacity from
2010 to 2030, the report by the Powering Past Coal Alliance (PPCA)
said.
Greenhouse gas emissions from burning coal are the single
biggest contributor to climate change and weaning the world off
coal is considered vital to achieving global climate targets.
While some countries such as Britain and Germany have delayed
the closure of coal plants this winter due to the war in Ukraine
and concerns over Russian energy supply, overall phase-out dates
remained intact, according to the report released to coincide
with the COP27 climate summit of world leaders in Egypt.
“Instead, governments are increasing their efforts to invest in
renewables and increase energy efficiency, in order to
accelerate the transition away from power generation fuelled by
both coal and gas,” said the PPCA, an international campaign
aimed at phasing out the fuel.
China has pledged to bring the country's carbon emissions to a
peak by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2060. On Monday,
China said it did not oppose mentioning 1.5 degrees Celsius as a
goal for limiting global warming.
China’s climate envoy, Xei Zhenhua said last week at the COP27
climate talks in Egypt the country would need to retain some
coal plants to help maintain the stability of its power grid.
There are still plans for almost 300 gigawatts (GW) of new coal
power capacity globally with around two-thirds of this, or 197
GW slated to be built in China, the report showed.
“Accelerated retirements within the OECD and the collapse in the
scale of new project proposals in the rest of the world have
been counteracted by the ongoing expansion of the coal fleet in
China,” the report said.
The PPCA said many of these proposed projects may eventually be
cancelled.
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(Reporting By Susanna Twidale)
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