Of all fossil fuels, coal has the most serious and long-term impact on global warming. When coal burns, it releases more carbon dioxide than oil and gas, and estimated 39 percent global carbon dioxide emissions. But coal is still the number one energy source, providing about 40 percent of the world’s electricity.

A. COP29 agreement reached Wednesday, November 21 Now it holds the promise of changing the fossil fuel landscape and climate change trajectory and bringing the world back to net zero. Twenty-five countries and the EU have pledged not to build any unmitigated coal power plants in the next round of national climate plans, in a bid to scale up their ambitions in the next phase of climate action.

Fossil fuels are highly polluting. ‘No new, unmitigated coal power’ COP29 The initiative was signed by EU climate envoy Wopke hoekstra National climate plans of 25 countries February 2025 Like all other parties to the Paris Agreement, theirs will not introduce new, unreduced coal into their energy systems, which would accelerate the phase-out of fossil fuels.

In terms of fossil fuels, ‘unmitigated’ means taking no action to reduce carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases from burning coal, oil and natural gas. Reduced refers to attempts to reduce the release of pollutants to an acceptable level.

“I’m often asked what gives me confidence that we can make this work. The answer is many things. Quiet acts of solidarity from people who are down but refuse to stay down. But there are also big things – macro trends that are not in dispute And from the global clean energy boom There is no larger trend. two trillion dollars alone this year. And this is just beginning” Simon Stiellexecutive secretary United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Changehe emphasized.

“Money talks, and as we enter the second quarter of this century it says loud and clear: there is no stopping the clean energy monster and the huge benefits it brings: stronger growth, more jobs, less pollution and inflation, the benefits of cheaper, cleaner energy.” The list goes on.”

The coalition of nations supporting the diplomatic campaign encouraging all countries to end new coal power consists mostly of rich countries such as: Germany, France, Canada, United Kingdom and especially Australia – a major coal producer. This is the latest commitment to reduce fuel use and phase out fossil fuels. COP28 to agree.

This commitment is incredibly critical as we face a coal boom despite the fact that coal is extremely dangerous to global climate goals. Data Global Coal Power Plant Tracking “With 69.5 GW of coal-fired power plant capacity being commissioned in 2023 and 21.1 GW being decommissioned, the annual net increase was 48.4 GW and the global total capacity was 2,130 GW. This was the highest net increase in coal-fired power plant capacity.” Since 2016.”

COP29 centered around a new agreement on climate finance to support the third Nationally Determined Contributions in the developing world, but delegates did not lose sight of the issue. COP28 Landmark agreement in which nearly 200 countries call on all nations to move away from fossil fuels for the first time.

Activists want a net-zero world, and they want it now; They call for ambitious climate action to save the planet. Credit: Joyce Chimbi/IPS

Teresa AndersonGlobal Leader on Climate Justice ActionAid International“Just transitions and climate finance must go hand in hand. Last year’s agreement to move away from fossils was an important step. But without the finance to make just transition a reality, developing countries are in a difficult position,” he told IPS.

Emphasizing that climate-affected countries “want to step forward in the fossil fuel era and scale up renewable energy sources, but they cannot do so when they are driven further into debt by the climate crisis”, To finally unlock the climate action the planet needs, COP29 An ambitious funding target worth trillions of dollars in grants needs to be agreed each year. Achieving a just transition in energy is much more than encouraging corporate investments and cannot be left solely to the private sector.

“As we move away from fossil fuels, governments have a responsibility to actively engage communities in planning, education, social protection, access to energy and ensuring secure livelihoods. Public services can connect the dots and have a key role in the just transition. New Climate finance target, credit or corporate investment It has to provide trillions of dollars in grants, not targets,” Anderson observed.

Praised as a major and progressive step in the journey towards phasing out fossil fuels, the initiative is still not a magic solution to ending coal. The new commitment does not force countries to stop mining or exporting coal. Especially the world’s largest coal-fired generators, e.g. United Nations And Indianot part of the initiative. However, despite the growth of energy from coal in recent years COP28 Hoekstra expressed optimism that this call to action, following the agreement on fossil fuels, would begin to move toward much-needed fossil fuel phase-out.