A flagship global agreement at COP26 to slash coal use was undermined on Thursday morning as the US refused to sign up and the text was weakened to allow another decade or even longer to phase out coal power.
The UK hosts wanted the summit to be known as the one that “consigns coal to history” but a last-minute scramble to confirm the signatories on Thursday morning threw that effort into question.
The pact was signed by more than 40 countries including Poland, Indonesia and Vietnam — but missing major coal consumers China, India and Australia.
In the pledge text seen by the Financial Times, developed countries vowed to quit coal in the 2030s “or as soon as possible thereafter”, a significant backslide from the original 2030 goal.
Developing countries agree to transition away from coal in the 2040s “or as soon as possible thereafter”, in the pledge.
That represents a significant dilution of the original targets of 2030 and 2040 proposed by Alok Sharma, the British cabinet minister who is president of COP26.
The US, the world’s third-largest coal consumer, was not among a list of signatories to the pledge circulated on Wednesday evening, despite the Biden administration’s goal of carbon-free electricity by 2035.
As Washington’s protracted negotiations over the infrastructure proposals continue, analysts say the Biden administration is avoiding taking a clear stand on coal in Glasgow, to avoid upsetting senators from coal-dependent states. A major defeat in Virginia for the Democratic candidate governor this week shook the party.
While UK business and energy secretary Kwasi Kwarteng declared that “the end of coal is in sight”, the last-minute scramble on the coal pledge underscores the deep divisions that remain on the issue.
Sharma has vowed to “consign coal to history”, as the world’s biggest contributor to carbon dioxide emissions.
The coal pact, dubbed the “Global Coal to Clean Power Transition Statement”, includes more than 20 countries that for the first time are promising to phase out or stop investing in new coal-fired power plants domestically and internationally.
The UK said the new initiative would help to shut down 40GW of coal-power plants — enough to power 30m homes — in 20 countries.
The commitment relates to unabated coal power, or those plants not equipped with carbon capture and sequestration technology, however.
At the same time, another of the big multilateral agreements in Glasgow on reducing deforestation was undermined after Indonesia’s environment minister called it “inappropriate and unfair”.
More than 100 world leaders this week signed the global commitment to halt the destruction of the world’s great forests. But Siti Nurbaya Bakar, environment minister for Indonesia, said she did not support the agreement signed only two days ago by her government.
Coal prices and profitability for producers are high owing to recent shortages and rising demand for power as the global economy rebounds following the pandemic.
About $20bn in funding to help countries quit coal has been announced at the Glasgow summit this week, including a proposal to fund South Africa’s shift to clean energy.
According to the International Energy Agency, there are 140GW of new coal plants under construction and more than 400GW at various states of planning.
While renewable energy sources such as wind and solar are growing rapidly, they are struggling to keep pace with rising demand for electricity and power, leaving fossil fuels to fill the gap.
As a result, coal producers are enjoying one of the best years on record as the global energy crunch has pushed prices to unprecedented levels. In Europe, coal prices, which started the year at about $70, touched $300 a tonne in October before retreating.
Coal prices have also leapt in China, where a deepening power crisis is threatening its economic growth. The country has struggled with domestic coal supply to meet the recent increased power demand as it slowly runs down coal mines and power plants for environmental and safety reasons.
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2021-11-04 08:37:22Z
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