In a new report published on Monday 30 September, the day the UK’s last coal-fired power station closed, the think tank Ember has indicated that by 2023 coal production in OECD countries will have been halved (-52%) since its peak in 2007.
The UK thus becomes the 14th of the 38 OECD countries to have introduced a coal-free electricity system. Of the 24 countries that still have coal-fired power stations, 19 saw their coal-fired electricity production fall by at least 30% compared with 2007.
In addition, 13 of them are explicitly committed to phasing out coal by 2030, in line with the Paris Agreement, which means that three quarters of OECD countries will be coal-free by 2030.
According to Dave Jones, Programme Director for Ember, “It is encouraging to see mature economies now switch their focus to repowering their whole economy with clean energy, to ultimately close the chapter not only on coal, but on all fossil fuels”.
However, the report indicates that, on a global scale, electricity generated from coal will still reach a new record in 2023, driven by the emerging economies of Asia.
In the run-up to COP29 in Baku, the European Commission is set to join a new initiative calling for action by some thirty countries around the world to abandon plans to build new coal-fired power stations (see EUROPE 13490/10).
To see the report: https://aeur.eu/f/dnh (Original version in French by Pauline Denys)