New Coal Plants Proposals Scuffled Since the Paris Arrangement

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New Coal Plants Proposals Scuffled Since the Paris Arrangement

According to a report by climate advocacy groups, more than three-quarters of projects were abandoned after the Paris Agreement was signed. According to data, the global pipeline of new coal power plants has fallen since the 2015 Paris climate agreement, indicating that the polluting energy source is nearing its end.

Since the climate agreement was signed, more than three-quarters of the world's planned plants have been abandoned, meaning 44 countries no longer have any future coal power plans. E3G, Global Energy Monitor, and Ember, the report's authors, said those countries now have the advantage to join the 40 countries that have previously committed to a "no new coal" promise to aid reduce global carbon emissions.

"Just 5 years ago, there were so many new coal power plants slated to be built," said Ember's Dave Jones. "Now, most of these have either been officially halted, or are paused and unlikely to ever be built."

As a result, a snowball of public promises to "no new coal" can build up across countries, marking an important step toward the fate of coal's doom.

The remaining coal power plants are dispersed over 31 nations, with half of them only having one planned for the future. The economics of coal have been set to be "increasingly uncompetitive in compared to renewable energy, while the risk of stranded assets has increased," according to Chris Littlecott, associate director of E3G.

According to the analysis, if China, which is responsible for more than half of the world's coal plant plans, along with India, Vietnam, Indonesia, Turkey, and Bangladesh, decided to cancel the projects, the number of coal power plants in the pipeline would drop by about 90%. The Cop26 climate negotiations in Glasgow in November, according to Christine Shearer, program director at Global Energy Monitor and co-author of the research, are "an appropriate time for the world's leaders to join together and commit to a world with no new coal plants."

Without a commitment from governments to phase out coal, Alok Sharma, the UK's Cop26 president, stated that stopping global temperatures from increasing by more than 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels would be "very difficult."

Coal is one of the most significant contributors to the carbon emissions that are causing the climate crisis, and the United Nations has stated that by the end of the decade, global coal use must have fallen by 79 percent compared to 2019 levels if the world is to meet the Paris climate agreement targets.