Canada and the United Kingdom are phasing out coal, but they're not the only ones
Energy — di Cecilia Bergamasco
Climate change, pollution, disease and poor economic viability are pushing more and more countries to ban coal.
Canada and the United Kingdom are phasing out coal, but they're not the only ones
Climate change, pollution, disease and poor economic viability are pushing more and more countries to ban coal.
Canada and Great Britain have announced their intention to phase out coal from their electricity production. A year ago, the Dutch parliament laid the groundwork for saying a definitive goodbye to coal and closing the power plants still operating on national territory. Last June, Sweden committed to zeroing its carbon emissions. More and more countries are putting concrete measures in place to change the energy landscape and push production towards renewable sources. The goal is always the same: to reduce pollution, prevent disease, create new jobs and keep climate change under control.
Canada and Great Britain allies against coal
Last September, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and British Prime Minister Theresa May announced a new partnership to stimulate green growth and combat climate change. Canada and the United Kingdom will commit to creating a cleaner economy through the use of innovative technologies to reduce emissions and protect the environment. Canada's Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Catherine McKenna, and the UK's Minister of State for Climate Change and Industry, Claire Perry, emphasised that reducing the weight of coal in the energy mix and replacing it with cleaner technologies "significantly reduces greenhouse gas emissions, improves the health of our communities" and makes "our economies grow".
Phasing out coal power generation is the right thing to do. For the heath of our kids, and the quality of our air! cbc.ca/news/politics/…
Sustainability and renewables: Canada's choice
Canada's electricity generation mix is already one of the cleanest in the world, with over 80 per cent of electricity coming from renewable or very low-carbon sources. Canada is now focusing its efforts on achieving 90 per cent renewable electricity generation by 2030. To this end, the country is moving on several fronts. Last year, the Minister of Environment announced the federal government's commitment to using only energy from renewable sources in federal public buildings and military facilities. Canada also established in its 2017 budget an investment of 21.9 billion dollars in green infrastructure, giving priority to electricity grid interconnections for renewable plants, electric vehicle charging stations and wastewater management.
The Netherlands moves from promises to action
In 2016, the Netherlands had approved one of Europe's most ambitious climate policies, voting — albeit in a non-binding manner — for a 55 per cent cut in carbon dioxide emissions, a target to be achieved by 2030 through the closure of all coal plants still operating in the country. Since his election in March 2017, Mark Rutte's government has been proceeding with the early closure of three plants, despite the fact that, completed in 2015, they rank among the most efficient in Europe. Based on what was reported by "Climate Home News", as early as 2016 the plants were losing value, having failed to pick up on the signals of change in the energy world: weak demand, competition from renewable sources and pressure from activists. Gerard Wynn, an analyst at the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, commented that the decision "sends a strong signal to electricity markets and in Europe no investment in coal plants can be considered safe".
Sweden commits to monitoring progress on climate policies
In June, Sweden also further strengthened its commitments to zeroing greenhouse gas emissions by 2045. The Scandinavian country's parliament voted 254 to 41 to adopt an ambitious climate law. Sweden's goal not only embraces what was agreed under the Paris Agreement but goes further. The commitment entered into provides for a cut of at least 85 per cent in greenhouse gas emissions relative to the levels recorded in Sweden in 1990, and for the offsetting of remaining emissions through green strategies such as the planting of new trees in the country. The Swedish government has committed to presenting a climate report during its annual budget and to drawing up a climate policy action plan every four years to illustrate to citizens how it intends to achieve its climate targets and the steps taken towards them.