a deal to end coal burning may be off the table.
While the British diplomat may have been accurate in her projection, leaders of more than 40 countries proved that all is not lost, as they agreed to phase out their use of coal-fired power at the summit this week. Some of the major coal-using countries like Canada, Chile, Poland and Vietnam, as well as COP26 host, the United Kingdom, were among those who vowed to phase out their use of coal for electricity generation, while some of the most developed economies who are heavily reliant on polluting fuel, such as China, India, Australia and the United States were missing from the deal.
“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. Today’s ambitious commitments made by our international partners demonstrate that the end of coal is in sight,” UK’s business secretary, Kwasi Kwarteng, said.
The agreement, brokered by the UK at Glasgow, requires bigger economies to stop using coal in the 2030s, while for smaller economies, the deadline is the 2040s. It is seen as a major achievement in United Kingdom’s hopes for a deal to “keep 1.5C alive”, although some climate experts and environmental campaigners are of the view that the deadlines set out are much too late.
Coal is one of the biggest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions across the globe. After a temporary slump in emissions amid the pandemic, the use of the polluting fuel has now rebounded as countries begin to recover from the global health crisis. Apart from dozens of developed and developing nations, more than 100 financial institutions and organisations also decided to contribute to the efforts in phasing out coal by pledging to stop financing coal development.
