Coal Is Out At COP26 – Except For Countries Where It’s Still In!

Coal Is Out At COP26 – Except For Countries Where It’s Still In!

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson (L) and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres (R) greet U. S. ... [+] President Joe Biden at COP26 in Glasgow, Scotland. The recent climate conference COP26 reached for an agreement on coal, the dirtiest of the main fossil fuels. Over 40 countries agreed to phase out coal in richer countries by 2040 and in poorer countries by 2050. On the final day, words to phase out "unabated coal power and inefficient fossil fuel subsidies" were still in the final conference recommendations. Unabated coal means coal produced without using carbon capture and storage as a net-zero escape hatch. Private entities also signed on, and some major banks said they would end financing for the coal industry. Notable by their absence are the US, China, India and Australia. Why focus on coal? It produced just under 40% of the world's electricity in 2019. The signers agreed to stop investing in new coal sources of electricity both domestically and internationally. Coal is a primary source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. China and India alone account for 64% of global coal consumption and emit about 35% of the world's GHG (over half of the world's GHG is emitted by China,