Coal Plant Plans Threaten Climate Goals, Climate Group Says

Current coal plant plans drastically threaten global warming goals, a climate change group has said. 

In a statement released today at the Paris Climate Summit, the Climate Action Tracker group says that if all planned coal plants are built, by 2030, emissions from coal power would be 400% higher than what is consistent with a 2°C pathway.

Even if no new plants are built, it warned, the emissions would still be 150% higher than a 2°C pathway. The 2°C pathway is a higher target than many countries would like, Bill Hare, CEO of Climate Analytics, said.

“More than 100 countries are calling for the Paris agreement to reference warming limits of 1.5°C," the statement quotes him as saying. "Yet even electricity production from existing coal plants far exceed the range of such scenarios.  At the same time, we know that emerging economies like India would see so many co-benefits from reducing air pollution and other health issues its people are suffering from.”

In the same statement, one expert pointed to the fact that many of the plants planned are unlikely to reach fruition as renewable energy sources play a bigger role in the energy mix. 

“It is unlikely that all of these planned coal plants are going to be built, especially when low carbon alternatives are reaching price parity," Markus Hagemann of NewClimate Institute said. "If renewables take off as fast as is currently expected, many of these planned coal plants could be stranded investments or would have to operate under difficult financial circumstances.”

The consortium behind the Climate Action Tracker used data from CoalSwarm's Global Coal Plant Tracker to reach their assessment.