Phaseout of coal power far too slow to avoid ‘climate chaos’, report finds

theguardian.com:

The world needs to close coal power plants at almost five times the present rate, as well as stop building new ones, in order to meet the goals of the Paris climate agreement, according to a report.

Global Energy Monitor, a San Francisco-based NGO, said insufficient progress was being made to avoid “climate chaos” and that plans for a sharp increase in the number of coal-fired plants in China would require even steeper cuts to the rest of the global fleet to meet the world’s climate goals.

In order to meet the Paris climate agreement, all coal-fired plants need to be closed by 2040 and no new ones can come online.

Developed economies are expected to shut their plants a decade earlier than the global phaseout. This will require countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development to close 60 gigawatts of coal-power capacityeach year until 2030 – about four-and-a-half times the amount recorded last year. Non-OECD countries will need to close 91GW of coal power capacity every year until 2040.

The global survey found that although the total amount of existing and planned coal plant capacity outside China fell last year, the phaseout has slowed compared with previous years.

China is also preparing to drastically increase its usage of coal, with plans to build enough new plants to more than offset the capacity retired across the US and the EU combined last year.

“At this rate, the transition away from existing and new coal isn’t happening fast enough to avoid climate chaos,” said Flora Champenois, the lead author of the report and project manager for Global Energy Monitor’s global coal plant tracker.

“The more new coal projects come online, the steeper the cuts and commitments need to be in the future.”

Overall, the