History was made at COP26 today as countries, banks and organisations committed to move away from the biggest contributor to climate change - coal. Phasing out coal and transitioning to clean energy are needed to minimise temperature rises in line with the Paris Agreement.
At least 23 countries, including five of the world’s top 20 coal power-using countries committed to phase out coal power. These are: South Korea (5th), Indonesia (7th), Vietnam (9th), Poland (13th) and Ukraine (19th).
However, it excludes some of the world's most coal-dependent nations, including Australia, China and India.
In a new ‘Global Coal to Clean Power Transition Statement’, countries also committed to scaling up clean power to ensure a just transition away from coal.
Banks and financial institutions also made landmark commitments to end the funding of unabated coal by the end of 2021, including major international lenders like HSBC, Fidelity International and Ethos. This follows recent announcements from China, Japan and South Korea to end overseas coal financing. This means that all significant public international financing for coal power has effectively ended.
COP26 President, Alok Sharma said:
“From the start of the UK’s Presidency, we have been clear that COP26 must be the COP that consigns coal to history. With these ambitious commitments we are seeing today, the end of coal power is now within sight. Securing a 190-strong coalition to phase out coal power and end support for new coal power plants and the Just Transition Declaration signed today, show a real international commitment to not leave any nation behind.”
Other measures announced today include:
- A strategic partnership between the Energy Transition Council and the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet(GEAPP) was formed. $10 billion funded by development banks and philanthropists aims to deliver clean, renewable energy to 1 billion people in developing and emerging economies and create 150 million green jobs by 2030.
- 14 countries including India, Indonesia, Japan and Nigeria committed to the largest ever increase in product efficiency by signing up to a global goal of doubling the efficiency of lighting, cooling, motors and refrigeration by 2030.
- The Africa and Latin America Green Hydrogen Alliances was launched with membership from six African countries and five Latin American countries. They aim to begin development of millions of metric tons of production of reliably near-zero-carbon green hydrogen to be used in domestic and international industries worldwide.
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