(GERMANY)
The UN Climate Change Conference (COP23) which concluded in Bonn yesterday sounded a welcome death knell for coal.
The Powering Past Coal Alliance was launched at COP23, with the support of 27 governments worldwide, national and regional. They agreed to phase out existing coal plants and placed a moratorium on ‘any new traditional coal power stations without operational carbon capture and storage’. The Alliance is open to businesses and aims to have 50 members within the next 12 months.
It also plans to spearhead efforts to move the OECD countries beyond coal by 2030 – and all nations by 2050.
“By moving away from coal, the world will be well on its way to clean air, clean water, and climate stability. The governments who have joined this alliance just demonstrated how countries should be taking meaningful action on climate, and we applaud them for this critical step to move the world beyond coal,” said John Coequyt, Sierra Club Global Climate Policy Director.
The formation of the alliance follows the launch earlier this month of the Europe Beyond Coal initiative, backed by 28 countries and civil society groups across the continent, united in their commitment to ditch this environmentally damaging form of energy.
