The Bonn coal phaseout pledges in context
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One of the splashier announcements at the Bonn climate talks this week has been the rollout of the Powering Past Coal Alliance — a pledge by roughly 20 countries (so far) to phase out use of coal in power generation by 2030. The countries include Canada, the U.K., several other European nations, New Zealand and more.
Reality check: The chart above compares coal use in the countries that have adopted the pledge against global coal consumption in 2015 as reported by the U.S. Energy Information Administration. (It does not include pledges by some provincial governments or the U.S. states of Washington and Oregon.)
- It shows that the pledge currently covers slightly over 2% of global coal use. The New York Times, using a separate dataset based on BP's big annual report on energy statistics, arrives at roughly the same tally.
- The absence of dominant coal users China, the U.S., and India — and to a lesser extent Germany, Russia, Japan and some others — means that for now, the pledge only covers a small amount of the world's use of the fuel.
Why it matters: Coal currently accounts for around 40% of worldwide power generation. Cutting emissions from coal — the most carbon-intensive fossil energy source — is vital to eventually ensuring the steep global greenhouse gas cuts that scientists call necessary to avoid the most dangerous levels of global warming.
What's next: The organizers of the pledge say they plan to add many new partners ahead of the next big UN summit a year from now. Stay tuned.
