Dozens of countries have decided to abandon coal, but not the biggest polluters / Article

Meanwhile, recent studies show that harmful emissions into the atmosphere have approached the record level reached in 2019 and may exceed it in the next few years.

Major polluters abstain

Even before the start of the Glasgow climate conference, many experts and commentators said that one of the most contentious issues would be the abandonment of coal for electricity.

It is now known that more than 40 countries around the world, as well as various non-governmental and financial organizations, have agreed to abandon coal use and investment in the sector. This decision has been taken by Poland, Ukraine, Vietnam, Chile and other countries.

However, this commitment has not been signed by the countries that are among the largest users of air pollutants and coal – China, the United States, India and Australia. For example, China consumes more coal than the rest of the world combined.

Coal produces more than a third of the world’s electricity

Coal is set to be phased out by 2030 in developed countries and by 2040 in poorer countries. The parties have promised to stop all investments in new coal-fired power plants both at home and abroad. As its President, Alok Sharma, said during the conference, one of the most pressing issues is how to help developing countries implement this green transformation.

“Over the past month, we have seen very significant changes. All G7 countries have committed themselves no longer to funding coal plant projects abroad from this year. We have received the same promise from South Korea, and China has promised to do the same in the UN General Assembly. Of course, we also want to make greater promises on the use of coal at home, and we will see what that leads to.

We are aware that what we are asking for will be very, very challenging for many countries. But the question is how we can support developing countries in their transition to cleaner energy. “

To understand the importance of using coal to generate electricity, it must be borne in mind that in 2019, around 37% of the world’s electricity was generated by coal-fired power plants.

Emissions are approaching a record

Discussions on decommissioning coal-fired power plants in the foreseeable future are taking place at a time when the Global Carbon Project has also issued its latest report. Its latest data show that CO2 emissions from fossil fuel combustion have reached pre-pandemic times and are approaching the 2019 record.

In addition, one third of harmful emissions are still generated by one country, China. Like the International Energy Agency, Global Carbon Project experts predict that the planet could reach its highest level of harmful emissions in history in 2022 or 2023.

After world leaders agreed in the early stages of the UN climate conference to reduce rapid deforestation, finance ministers spoke on Wednesday about how the various climate goals and green transformation to raise the still missing funds. Each year, countries had pledged $ 100 billion to these goals, but they are still far behind.

When it comes to national spending on climate neutrality, these amounts are even unthinkable: the total public and private investment to achieve these goals could reach $ 130 trillion. That’s about 3-4 trillion a year, or about 2 percent of global GDP.

CONTEXT:

In the Scottish city of Glasgow from 31 October to 12 November a global climate conference is taking place, in which countries must agree on action to limit global warming. The leaders of almost 200 countries came to Glasgow, but among them there were no presidents of China and Russia, although these countries are among the biggest emitters.

The conference participants are committed to 2030 halt uncontrolled deforestation. An agreement has also been reached by the end of this decade reduce methane emissions by at least 30%. Experts welcome these promises, but at the same time recall that a previous agreement of this kind did not bring practical results in 2015.

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