Glasgow Brief: Big “anti-coal day” as Taylor gets a dressing down

Thursday marked “Energy Day” in Glasgow, with the UK hosts of COP26 launching a new pledge from countries and major energy companies to phase out coal generation – but which overlooked the need to phase out gas.

Countries, organisations, sign pledge to phase out coal power

As RenewEconomy flagged on Thursday, almost 200 countries and organisations have signed a pledge to phase out the use of coal power. The pledge was signed by 23 new countries at COP26, as well as a number of subnational jurisdictions and global energy companies.

Signatories to the Global Coal to Clean Power Transition statement included five of the world’s top 20 coal power countries, being South Korea, Indonesia, Vietnam, Poland and Ukraine.

The pledge, which would see coal power use phased out in ‘major economies’ in the 2030s, and in the rest of the world in the 2040s, was also signed by major energy utilities, including Iberdrola, Engie, and the EDF Group.

“From the start of the UK’s Presidency, we have been clear that COP26 must be the COP that consigns coal to history.  With these ambitious commitments we are seeing today, the end of coal power is now within sight,” COP26 president Alok Sharma said.

For the record, the only Australian jurisdiction to sign on to the pledge was the ACT.

“This statement shows the many cities, states and countries around the world are willing to do what it takes to keep global warming to below 1.5 degrees,” ACT minister for energy and emissions reduction, Shane Rattenbury, said.

“This gives me great hope as we face the challenges of the coming decade. It is a shame that the Federal Government has not committed to this Statement, because if Australia is to be serious with climate action, we need them to sign and honour this statement.”

Poland immediately walks back pledge, and gets ‘Fossil of the Day’

Shortly after announcing is had signed on to the coal phase out pledge, the Polish climate minister, Anna Moskwa, clarified that Poland would not be ending the use of coal until 2049.

It raised some eyebrows amongst environment groups, as it sees Poland – one of the world’s largest coal users – effectively declare itself as a developing country (despite being the world’s 23rd largest economy), and setting its deadline to the latest possible year.

Claiming that Poland had not been entirely truthful about its coal pledge, environment groups awarded Poland the “Fossil of the Day” award.

What about gas?

Coal has been the focus of the COP26 talks, but questions have been raised around why fossil gas has not received the same attention given its role as a major source of greenhouse gas emissions.

Asked about the potential for a similar pledge for a phase out of fossil gas use, COP26 president Alok Sharma suggested that there was minimal appetite for such an agreement at this stage (and it appears to have been a struggle to get a group of countries to commit to a coal phase out.

CEO of Climate Analytics, Bill Hare, said on Thursday (Glasgow time) that gas had to feature in climate efforts, with the group publishing new analysis

“Natural gas is not a bridging fuel. It is a fossil fuel,” Hare said.

“Gas is the new coal, and just as we see all these announcements today in Glasgow from governments pledging to get out of coal, we have to ask the question: why are they not also targeting gas?”

“Governments, investors and the financial sector must treat it the same way as they do coal: phase it out as soon as possible.”

Are the climate goals back within reach?

A number of new pieces of analysis suggest that the strengthened pledges to reduce greenhouse gas emissions being made at the COP26 talks may have finally put the world on track to keep warming to below 2 degrees.

Executive Director of the International Energy Agency, Fatih Birol, tweeted on Thursday that new analysis produced by the agency suggests current commitments were consistent with around 1.8 degrees of warming.

The IEA projection follows similar findings by Australian-based research group Climate Resource which shows there is now a better than even chance of limiting global warming to just 1.9 degrees.

Each piece of analysis noted, however, that national governments still needed to introduce new policies to underpin the pledges being made before and during the COP26 climate talks, and a gap still remained between the targets and what currently committed policies are set to achieve.

There had been a lot of focus in the lead up to COP26 on securing commitments that would keep a 1.5-degree temperature increase within reach. While it appears that COP26 is likely to fall short of that goal, the fact that a goal of keeping warming to below 2 degrees is within reach will likely be seen as a success for the UK hosts of COP26.

Meanwhile in Australia…

The Morrison government has launched consultation on opening up ten new areas for petroleum exploration, with resources minister Keith Pitt saying that he hopes “to attract investment in our petroleum industry”.

As the world negotiates on how to best transition away from fossil fuels, the Morrison government is actively working to expand Australia’s oil and gas industries.

In Glasgow, when asked when he thought we could expect Australia to begin “walking the talk” on climate change, the COP26 “High Level Champion” Nigel Topping simply said “I don’t know”.

Taylor challenged to be “courageous ” in Glasgow 

While prime minister Scott Morrison has returned to Australia, federal energy and emissions reduction minister Angus Taylor remains in Glasgow.

This has given Natalie Isaacs, the founder of the 1 Million Women movement, the opportunity to challenge Taylor on the Morrison government’s climate policies on the floor of the COP26 conference.

“I cannot tell you how truly disappointed I am about you and the Australian government no putting my children, my grandchildren, first,” Isaacs told Taylor.

“We’re asking our leaders to step up and be courageous and be bold.”

You can watch Taylor’s response below.

In brief: “I’m proud of what we’re doing,” Taylor says.