Graph of the Day: Countries with dirtiest coal power

Here’s a couple of stunning graphs we dug up in an HSBC analysis of the recently completed Warsaw climate talks. This focuses on the issue of coal, where one of the main priorities for increasing climate ambition is to reduce the amount of generation from sub-critical coal, the form of coal plant that has the worst emissions because these plants are usually old and inefficient.

The graph on the right shows the countries which rely heaviest on this heavily polluting form of generation. South Africa’s coal portfolio is entirely made up of sub-critical generation, and UK, Poland and Australia also have 90 per cent shares, which is why early retirement of these plants should be encouraged.

The graph on the left is also interesting, it shows that 80% of total subcritical coal capacity is based in three countries – China, the US and India. Interestingly, we are already seeing the early closure of some plants, driven by air pollution regulations, in China and the US – in the former because of major pollution problems and in the US because it is the only mechanism they have in the absence of a carbon price. In Australia, rather than being forced by legislated emissions control to close their plants, operators are likely to get a handout from the taxpayer-funded emissions reduction fund to achieve some reduction in emissions.