Page 6 - AsiaElec Week 46 2022

AsiaElec COMMENTARY AsiaElec

COP27: Coal proves a

stubborn foe in fight to

save climate

COMMENTARY REDUCING coal consumption is are the central 2040,” said Michael Bloomberg, the UN secre-
challenge for reaching the world’s climate targets, tary-general’s special envoy on climate ambition
Fatih Birol, executive director of the Interna- and solutions.
tional Energy Agency (IEA), told COP27.
He warned that if nothing is done, emissions Where coal is burnt
from existing coal consumption plants in power According to IEA data, there are around 9,000
and industry alone easily tip the world over the coal-fired power plants in the world, boasting
1.5 °C limit. 2,185 GW of capacity. The global fleet is elderly,
He was speaking as the IEA launched its Coal and therefore dirty, ranging from 40 years old in
in Net Zero Transitions report at COP27, and the US to less than 15 years in developing econ-
stressed that the overwhelming majority of cur- omies in Asia.
rent global coal consumption occurs in countries Coal accounted for 759 TWh of power gener-
that have pledged to achieve net zero emissions. ation in 2021, an all-time high, while emissions
He also warned that coal had stubbornly from coal generation rose 6.6% year on year to
refused to decline in recent years. 9.7bn tonnes, 100mn tonnes above the previous
“Over 95% of the world’s coal consumption peak in 2018, according to IEA data.
is taking place in countries that have committed Industrial facilities using coal are similarly
to reducing their emissions to net zero,” said IEA long lived, with investment decisions set to be
Executive Director Fatih Birol. “But while there made this decade that, to a large degree, will
is encouraging momentum towards expand- shape the outlook for coal use in heavy industry
ing clean energy in many governments’ policy for decades to come.
responses to the current energy crisis, a major Global coal use is heavily concentrated in
unresolved problem is how to deal with the mas- a relatively small number of countries, such as
sive amount of existing coal assets worldwide.” China, the US and South Africa, where the fuel
The key problem is that is still the biggest sin- plays important roles in the economy, local
gle source of electricity in the world. development & energy systems.
“Coal is both the single biggest source of The IEA report also said that coal is now
CO2 emissions from energy and the single big- losing out on coast to renewables, reversing the
gest source of electricity generation worldwide, decades when coal was the cheapest form of fuel.
which highlights the harm it is doing to our cli- Transitioning away from coal can be achieved
mate and the huge challenge of replacing it rap- without raising electricity costs for consumers.
idly while ensuring energy security,” Birol said. In fact, the competitiveness of renewables means
The only way to address the coal crisis is to average costs will fall between now and 2050
accelerate the deployment of renewables and both in advanced economies and in emerging &
other clean alternatives to replace coal power developing economies.
plants. The current convenience of Coal has to However, new and innovative financial
be replaced a new generation of grid and storage approaches are needed to accelerate coal transi-
technology in order to provide the same energy tions, which means high elements of risk. Yet it
services affordably and securely. could be worth it as coal plants are increasingly
“Coal-fired power plants are on the decline, becoming stranded assets. In the power sector,
but not at the pace we need to save lives and win investors in plants accounting for nearly 70% of
the battle against climate change. By scaling the global coal power fleet are yet to recoup more
investment in clean energy, we can achieve a than $1 trillion of capital. Lowering their cost of
complete phase-out of coal plants in advanced capital can speed up coal plant retirements.™
economies by 2030 and the rest of the world by

P6 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 46 15•November•2022