WRI Energy’s Post

In 2015 when the Paris Agreement was reached, its new goal of limiting warming to 1.5°C was at risk of being dead on arrival because the world was on the verge of a coal-plant-building boom. However, since then the amount of new coal power in development has fallen dramatically. Why? There are multiple reasons for the transformative change: 🔌Clean energy filled the gap 🏭Most of the biggest emitters announced goals to reach net-zero emissions 💰Large public financiers of coal projects committed to stop lending #SystemsChangeLab explores the history of coal plants cancellations in China, India and Vietnam to help understand how the world can speed up the cancellation of the remaining coal project pipeline:

Plans to invest in new coal plants have been massively cut back over the past 8 years. A nice set of graphs from WRI shows how this global trend has played out across the top 10 coal-plant-planning countries.

In 2015 when the Paris Agreement was reached, its new goal of limiting warming to 1.5°C was at risk of being dead on arrival because the world was on the verge of a coal-plant-building boom. However, since then the amount of new coal power in development has fallen dramatically. Why? There are multiple reasons for the transformative change: 🔌Clean energy filled the gap 🏭Most of the biggest emitters announced goals to reach net-zero emissions 💰Large public financiers of coal projects committed to stop lending #SystemsChangeLab explores the history of coal plants cancellations in China, India and Vietnam to help understand how the world can speed up the cancellation of the remaining coal project pipeline▶️ https://bit.ly/3zMN5vK

Since 2015, over 1K GW of planned coal power generation assets has been cancelled. This is empirical evidence that financial institutions play a key role in decarbonization. They cannot be agnostic and passive players in decarbonization.

Since 2015 the amount of new coal power in development has fallen from 1,496 GW to 578 GW and the majority of coal plants that were in development in 2015 have been cancelled. This transformational change occurred during a period when we were expecting a coal boom. This insightful new article from Joel Jaeger at #SystemsChangeLab explores the reasons for this unexpected development and what we can learn from it now.

In 2015 when the Paris Agreement was reached, its new goal of limiting warming to 1.5°C was at risk of being dead on arrival because the world was on the verge of a coal-plant-building boom. However, since then the amount of new coal power in development has fallen dramatically. Why? There are multiple reasons for the transformative change: 🔌Clean energy filled the gap 🏭Most of the biggest emitters announced goals to reach net-zero emissions 💰Large public financiers of coal projects committed to stop lending #SystemsChangeLab explores the history of coal plants cancellations in China, India and Vietnam to help understand how the world can speed up the cancellation of the remaining coal project pipeline▶️ https://bit.ly/3zMN5vK

In 2015 when the Paris Agreement was reached, its new goal of limiting warming to 1.5°C was at risk of being dead on arrival because the world was on the verge of a coal-plant-building boom. However, since then the amount of new coal power in development has fallen dramatically. Why? There are multiple reasons for the transformative change: 🔌Clean energy filled the gap 🏭Most of the biggest emitters announced goals to reach net-zero emissions 💰Large public financiers of coal projects committed to stop lending #SystemsChangeLab explores the history of coal plants cancellations in China, India and Vietnam to help understand how the world can speed up the cancellation of the remaining coal project pipeline: https://bit.ly/3zMN5vK

Graph from our new #InthePipeline report, that landed this morning - 13% of coal producing countries with a net zero target have set a commitment to fully phase-out coal production. However, this only accounts for 5% of global coal production covered by a net zero target. Despite the widespread lack of country-level phase-out plans, phase-out leaders are emerging: - More than half (56%) of publicly listed companies engaged in coal production have a full or partial coal production phase-out pledge. https://lnkd.in/emxpRG4f Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit Oxford Net Zero NewClimate Institute Data-Driven EnviroLab

The G7 have agreed to phase out coal power by 2035, but the communique also included an “alternative goal” to phase out coal power “in a timeline consistent with keeping a limit of a 1.5C temperature rise within reach” which could extend the deadline. I'm confused - A timeline that keeps to the +1.5C goal would mean phasing out coal by 2025, not sometime after 2035. We'll be passed +1.5 by then. Or am I missing something? https://lnkd.in/dgXbKXiQ #climatechange #g7 #coal #coalpower #emissionsreduction #parisagreement

In case you missed this morning's Net Zero Tracker press conference on their latest report, "In the Pipeline: The status of fossil fuel phase-out commitments across nations, regions, cities, and companies with net zero targets," here are some 🔑 insights: - 56% of the biggest 2000 publicly-listed companies that engage in coal production have made a full or partial phase-out pledge for coal. - Only 3% of coal-producing countries with hashtag #netzero targets have committed to fully phase out exploration. - National net zero targets cover 88% of global GHG emissions, but only 7% of those emissions are covered by at least one full or partial phase-out commitment relating to exploration, production or use of fossil fuels 📹 Watch the press conference recording: https://lnkd.in/gXRYsS_E 📄 Read the report: https://lnkd.in/emxpRG4f Oxford Net Zero NewClimate Institute Net Zero Tracker Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit