More than 40 countries agree: Coal power should be phased out

The United Kingdom, Poland, Canada, Vietnam, Chile and about 40 other countries have signed agreements promising to phase out coal power. Many media outlets report that rich countries should have succeeded in this by 2030 and the poor by 2040.

“Today’s ambitious commitments of our international partners show that the end of coal is in sight,” Britain’s Commerce Secretary Kwazi Quarteng said on Wednesday. According to The Guardian.

He sees this agreement as a milestone because countries from all corners of the world have signed it.

China and the United States are excluded

Coal consumption is one of the largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions, according to the International Energy Agency. But not all countries agree that coal power should be phased out over the next few decades, and China, Australia, India and the United States, the largest countries using coal power, have not signed the agreement.

However, experts estimate that rich countries will have to phase out coal power by 2030 to reach the 1.5 degree target. It has been criticized by many as making the entire 2030s a success. Elif Kunduzili among others on the Europe Climate Action Network:

– This is not a game changer. He tells The Guardian that a deadline of 2030 should be the minimum, and that it is not in the deal.

“Difference between words and actions”

Jamie Peters, director of the Friends of the Earth campaign, agrees.

– Some may have heard the Prime Minister speak at the COP inauguration ceremony. He tells The Guardian to compare it with this and think why there is so much difference between word and deed.

Juan Pablo Osornio, chairman of the environmental organization Greenpeace Group on COP26, also questioned the importance of the agreement.

– This deal is not even close to achieving what is needed, he says, According to the BBC.

About 140 companies have joined the deal, and Chris Littlecott, a community director on the think tank E3G, sees the growth as positive.

“This commitment to coal is definitely a big step, and it would have been unthinkable a year or two ago,” he told The Guardian.