The world cannot say goodbye to coal
According to the report “Rise and Fall 2023: Global Tracking of Coal-Fired Power Plants”, published for the ninth time this year by the international think tank Global Energy Monitor, an average of 117 gigawatts of coal-fired power plants should be generated in the world. It closed annually to meet climate targets, while the coal capacity idled last year was 26 gigawatts.
The European Climate Action Network (CAN Europa), Beyond Fossil Fuels, CREA, E3G, Reclaim Finance, Sierra Club, SFOC, Kiko Network, ACJCE, Chile Sustentable and Bangladesh Groups participated in the preparation of the report.
Currently, about 30 percent (580 gigawatts) of the global capacity of operating coal plants has a shutdown date. 1,400 gigawatts of the remaining capacity is within the scope of carbon neutral targets.
There are no commitments for just 5 percent of the world’s coal-fired power plant capacity.
However, the speed with which coal-fired power plants are shutting down is insufficient to meet the climate goals of the Paris Agreement. An average of 117 gigawatts of coal-fired power plants a year must be shut down to meet the Paris Agreement targets. While this figure equates to about 5 times the 26 gigawatt capacity that was shut down last year, construction of new coal-fired power plants also needs to stop.
CHINA IS THE HEAD
The Secretary General of the United Nations (UN), Antonio Guterres, in establishing an “Acceleration Agenda”, reiterated calls not to build new coal projects and to close existing coal plants by 2030 in developed countries and by 2040 in developed countries. the rest of the world.
According to the report, while only 70% (330 gigawatts) of operating coal capacity in OECD countries is in line with this scenario, only 6% (93 gigawatts) of coal capacity in operating countries do not belong to the OECD have a closing date before 2040. .
While new coal projects have declined by two-thirds since the Paris Agreement, there are about 350 gigawatts of new coal projects in 33 countries and an additional 192 gigawatts of capacity are being built.
China leads all other countries combined in terms of pre-construction and under-construction coal capacity. Developing coal capacity in China increased 32 percent to 366 gigawatts last year compared to 2021, while in the rest of the world it decreased 22 percent to 172 gigawatts.
China accounts for 68 percent of the world’s developing coal capacity.
ENERGY CRISIS DELAY TARGETS
The gas crisis in the European Union and Russia’s war in Ukraine led to a slowdown in the closure of coal-fired power plants, and just 2.2 gigawatts of capacity from coal-fired power plants in the EU last year. This figure broke the record with 14.6 gigawatts from the previous year.
On the other hand, the share of coal in EU electricity production increased by 1 percent last year.
The United States took the lead in this area, bypassing 13.5 gigawatts of coal capacity in 2022.
In 2022, as the war between Russia and Ukraine intensified the energy crisis, the world’s fleet of operating coal plants grew by less than 1 percent (19.5 gigawatts). 59 percent of the newly commissioned 45.5 gigawatt power plant was registered in China.
Flora Champenois, lead author of the report, said there will be more emissions that will need to be reduced in the future as new coal projects come online. “At this stage, the decommissioning of new and existing coal projects is not happening enough fast enough to prevent climate chaos.” He used the phrase.
OPEN IN Türkiye
Turkey also became one of the countries in the world where a new coal-fired power plant was commissioned last year and the 1.3 gigawatt Emba Hunutlu power plant was inaugurated in Adana.
According to the report, Turkey ranks third in the world after China and India in terms of planned capacity of coal-fired power plants. Despite the coal power plant capacity of 11 gigawatts in the project stock, these projects are not expected to come to fruition due to issues such as financial difficulties. (AA)