LONDON (CU)_One of the key targets set out for COP26, by conference president Alok Sharma, is to “consign coal to history” in order to limit global warming to 1.5°C, to minimize the effects of climate change. However, the ongoing global energy crisis is proving to be a major challenge in achieving this goal, as increasing economic activity following the pandemic driving up demand for electricity and the fuels that produce it.
Although the UN climate summit have not even started yet, it has already become evident that a deal to end coal burning may be off the table. This is owing to the fact that diplomats from the major 20 economies are now narrowing in on a more modest plan to block governments from funding foreign coal-fired power plants.
“It will be hard to consign coal to history at Glasgow,” Barbara Woodward, the UK’s ambassador to the UN, said in an interview on Wednesday (27 October). “We’ve got to give up coal and some of the plans do not foresee that.”
In her criticism, the British envoy went on to single out Australia, the world’s second-biggest coal exporter who recently joined more than 100 nations in committing to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. However, the details of the plans set out by the government to reach this target is considered to be problematic since it largely relies on technologies that still remain largely unproven. Meanwhile, China, the biggest carbon emitter in the world, has also decided that in the final quarter of this year, its miners will boost the coal output by about 100 million tonnes, roughly around a year’s production of commodities giant Glencore.
Nevertheless, Woodward remained positive regarding the possibility of reaching the primary goal of COP26, which is to limit global warming to 1.5°C. The British envoy estimated a 60 to 70 per cent chance that policies will be agreed between the global leaders in this regard. “I’m more than optimistic,” she said. “We have gotten to a point where climate change is more or less top of pretty much every global leader’s agenda.”
