Nearly half of the coal industry is still on an expansion course in 'reckless’ mining rush

Nearly fractional of the ember manufacture intends to make caller projects to exploit the world's dirtiest fossil fuel, according to German run radical Urgewald, with galore companies refusing to discontinue assets adjacent arsenic utmost upwind events go worse and much predominant crossed the globe.

An yearly update from Urgewald and 40 spouse NGOs published Thursday recovered that 490 of the 1,064 companies connected its Global Coal Exit List were pursuing caller ember powerfulness plants, ember mines oregon caller ember transport infrastructure.

It means 46% of the companies surveyed are committed to expanding contempt past year's U.N. clime acme successful Glasgow ending with a global agreement to "accelerate efforts towards the phasedown of unabated coal."

The research, which represents the world's astir broad nationalist database connected the ember industry, said little than 3% of those surveyed had announced timely ember exit dates.

"Pursuing caller ember projects successful the midst of a clime exigency is reckless, irresponsible behavior," said Heffa Schuecking, manager of Urgewald. "Investors, banks, and insurers should prohibition these ember developers from their portfolios immediately."

Coal is the astir carbon-intensive fossil substance successful presumption of emissions and truthful the astir captious people for replacement successful the modulation to renewable vigor sources.

To beryllium sure, the burning of fossil fuels specified arsenic coal, lipid and state is the main operator of the clime crisis.

In conscionable the past fewer months, historic floods submerged one-third of Pakistan, Europe experienced its hottest summertime successful 500 years and China recorded the most terrible heatwave successful climatic history.

At the aforesaid time, immoderate European governments person reluctantly turned to coal to assistance forestall a wintertime proviso shortage amid a melodramatic autumn successful Russian state flows. Moscow has throttled state supplies amid a bitter vigor stand-off provoked by the Kremlin's warfare successful Ukraine.

Speaking up of the COP27 clime acme successful Sharm el-Sheikh adjacent month, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned, "we are successful a life-or-death conflict for our ain information contiguous and our endurance tomorrow."

"This is nary clip for pointing fingers — oregon twiddling thumbs. It is clip for a quantum level compromise betwixt developed and emerging economies," helium added.

The NGOs study said determination are presently much than 6,500 ember works units globally with a combined capableness of 2,067 gigawatts. It says that whether humanity is capable to support planetary heating from surpassing the critical somesthesia threshold of 1.5 degrees Celsius depends "first and foremost connected however rapidly we signifier retired this tremendous ember works fleet."

The 1.5 degrees Celsius extremity is the aspirational planetary somesthesia bounds acceptable successful the landmark 2015 Paris Agreement. It is recognized arsenic a important planetary people due to the fact that beyond this level, alleged tipping points go much likely.

Under the IEA's roadmap to nett zero by 2050, published successful May past year, the world's richest countries indispensable discontinue their ember powerfulness plants by the extremity of the decennary — astatine the latest — and by 2040 for the remainder of the world.

In stark opposition to high-income countries similar Italy, France and the U.K., however, the U.S. has not yet acceptable a nationalist phase-out day for its ember powerfulness plants.

"While the warnings issued by IPCC and UNEP go much and much dire from 1 UN Climate Summit to the next, our information regarding companies' modulation plans remains depressingly consistent," Schuecking said.

"The immense bulk of companies connected the GCEL inactive person nary volition of retiring the ember assets, which are propelling america towards a breakdown of our clime systems. A existent modulation requires wide and adjacent ember exit dates."

Urgewald's Schuecking told CNBC that since the 2015 Paris accord was signed, the planetary ember works fleet had seen a nett summation of astir 157 gigawatts. That's the equivalent of Germany, Russia, Japan and Poland's ember fleet added up together.

The probe recovered that 467 gigawatts of caller coal-fired capableness were inactive successful the pipeline worldwide. And, if realized, these projects would summation the world's existent ember powerfulness capableness by 23%.

"Stopping investing successful oregon financing ember developers, that should beryllium a no-brainer. I conscionable don't spot however anyone tin beryllium superior astir the Paris goals oregon beryllium an instauration that takes clime earnestly if you're inactive progressive with ember developers," Schuecking said.

China was recovered to beryllium liable for 61% of each planned ember powerfulness capableness additions and, possibly unsurprisingly, the apical 4 ember works developers were recovered to beryllium Chinese companies: China Huaneng Group, China Energy Investment Corporation, China Datang Corporation and China Huadian Corporation.

The study recovered that with 570 cardinal metric tons, China Energy Investment Corporation was the world's apical thermal ember shaper past year. This was intimately followed by Coal India, which produced 557 cardinal tons of thermal ember successful 2021.

Lidy Nacpil, coordinator of the Asian People's Movement connected Debt and Development, a determination confederation of assemblage organizations and NGOs, said the satellite welcomed Chinese President Xi Jinping's announcement past year that Beijing would halt gathering caller ember powerfulness plants abroad.

"But China needs to follow akin measures for its home vigor strategy if it wants to go an histrion for a 1.5°C world," Nacpil said.