At least 23 countries today made new commitments to phase out coal power, including five of the world’s top 20 coal power-using countries.
Coal is being consigned to history at COP26, as countries, banks and organisations move away from coal. At least 23 nations made new commitments to phase out coal power, including Indonesia, Vietnam, Poland, South Korea, Egypt, Spain, Nepal, Singapore, Chile and Ukraine.
28 new members also signed up to the world’s largest alliance on phasing out coal; the Powering Past Coal Alliance, launched and co-chaired by the UK and Canada. New members include Chile and Singapore, joining more than 160 countries, sub-nationals and businesses.
And 20 new countries, including Vietnam, Morocco and Poland committed to building no new coal plants, matching similar announcements over the past year by Pakistan, Malaysia and the Philippines, and building on the No New Coal Power Compact launched in September by Sri Lanka, Chile, Montenegro and European partners.
There has been a 76 per cent drop in the number of new coal plants planned globally over the last six years since the Paris Agreement was adopted. This equates to the cancellation of more than 1000GW of new coal plants.
Banks and financial institutions also made landmark commitments at COP26 to end the funding of new unabated coal by the end od 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 which now means all significant public international financing for coal power has effectively ended.
In addition, a group of 25 countries including COP26 partners Italy, Canada, the United States and Denmark, together with public finance institutions, have signed a UK-led joint statement committing to ending international public support for the unabated fossil fuel energy sector by the end of 2022 and instead prioritising support for the clean energy transition.
Collectively, this could shift an estimated $17.8 billion a year in public support out of fossil fuels and into the clean energy transition. Developing countries including Ethiopia, Fiji and the Marshall Islands also offered their support, signalling growing unity.
India, Indonesia, the Philippines and South Africa announced partnerships with the Climate Investment Funds to accelerate their transitions away from coal power, backed by a dedicated $2 billion facility. Indonesia and the Philippines announced pioneering partnerships with the Asian Development Bank to support the early retirement of coal plants.
These followed the ground-breaking $8.5 billion deal to support South Africa’s just transition to clean energy announced at the World Leaders Summit on Tuesday.
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.
“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.
“Together we can accelerate access to electricity for more than three quarters of a billion people who currently lack access, consigning energy poverty to history as we create the clean power future needed to keep 1.5 alive.”
Other announcements included:
- A strategic partnership between the Energy Transition Council and the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP). The GEAPP, announced on 2 November with $10 billion funding from philanthropies and development banks, aims to deliver clean, renewable energy to one billion people in developing and emerging economies and create 150 million green jobs by 2030. The partnership will include up to £25 million from GEAPP to support the Energy Transition Council’s Rapid Response Facility.
- The launch of the Africa and Latin America Green Hydrogen Alliances with membership from six African countries and five Latin American countries. They aim to kickstart development of millions of metric tonnes of production of reliably near-zero-carbon green hydrogen to be used in domestic and international industries worldwide.