Ministers claimed the ‘end of coal’ was in sight last night after unveiling a major new agreement to phase it out – but they failed to win any movement from big polluters like China.
Kwasi Kwarteng, Business Secretary, stated that 190 world leaders and bodies have agreed to stop using coal power. He also said that funding for new plants would be stopped.
Additionally, the UK, USA and Poland signed a separate commitment not to invest in coal power plants at their homes and abroad.
Mr Kwarteng said it represented a ‘milestone moment’ and that coal had ‘no part to play’ in future power generation.
After President Xi snubbed Cop26 in Glasgow, China has refused to reduce its dependence on coal power.
The new commitments didn’t include major polluters such as China, India, Russia, and Brazil. This image shows an open-pit coal mine located in Ordos (Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, China).
However, the important thing is that the new commitments did NOT include major polluters like China and India, Russia, Brazil, or Russia.
Britain’s two coal power plants are already due to be decommissioned by 2024. The UK is still considering plans for a new coal power station in Cumbria. They are awaiting the report of a public inquiry. However, it would be used for steel production and not energy so the deal does not cover it.
The coal agreement was signed as:
- Thousands of delegates came to Cop26 in private jets, prompting warnings that it was turning into an ‘extravagant eco-jolly’.
- Banks have revealed that future bonuses could be tied to green targets.
- Cop26 president Alok Sharma took a swipe at China as he said countries that hadn’t shown up for the summit had failed to show leadership.
- Mr Sharma told delegates they were the ‘new Swampys’ in reference to the veteran environmental protester.
- A major study suggested the world’s climate change pledges could limit warming to 1.9C on current estimates.
Meanwhile, ministers hailed their success in bringing together countries and organisations to sign up to the ‘Global Coal to Clean Power Transition Statement’.
This requires signatories make four major promises, including ending investments in coal power plants domestically and internationally, increasing use of green energy, and phasing down coal power in major countries in the 2030s as well as in other countries in 2040s.
The G20 group of the world’s largest economies has agreed to stop funding coal power plants in international locations.
China, Japan, and Korea are the three largest foreign financiers of coal. They have pledged to stop overseas financing of coal production by 2021.
President Xi Jinping is not pictured.
However, there was no agreement on ending domestic coal power. Australia and China, India, and Russia all stated that they had refused to leave. Coal is the biggest single contributor to climate change and its eradication as a source of power is one of Boris Johnson’s main ambitions for Cop26.
One of the UK’s two remaining coal power plants had to be started in September to relieve the pressure on the national grid. But they are still due to be taken out of service in three years’ time..
Mr Kwarteng said: ‘Today marks a milestone moment in our global efforts to tackle climate change as nations from all corners of the world unite in Glasgow to declare that coal has no part to play in our future power generation.
‘Spearheaded by the UK’s Cop26 presidency, today’s ambitious commitments made by our international partners demonstrate that the end of coal is in sight.
‘The world is moving in the right direction, standing ready to seal coal’s fate and embrace the environmental and economic benefits of building a future that is powered by clean energy.’
But Ed Miliband, Labour’s business spokesman, said: ‘Any progress towards powering past coal is welcome, but glaring gaps remain.
‘There is no commitment from large emitters like China to stop increasing coal at home, and nothing on the phase-out of other fossil fuels.
‘Whether it’s flirting with a new coal mine or licensing a massive oil field here at home, too often the government has been looking both ways on climate.’
Ministers also announced that 60 – more than half – of the Stock Exchange’s FTSE100 companies have now made a commitment to achieving net zero carbon use by 2050 by signed up to the United Nation’s Race to Zero campaign.