Image: byrev
The number of member countries to join an international alliance with a goal of rapidly phasing-out conventional coal power has quickly grown.
The Powering Past Coal Alliance was launched last month at the COP23 talks in Germany. It kicked off with 25 partner countries, states and organisations, and the list reached 58 last week. The newest member countries include Ethiopia, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Sweden, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.
“Coal power has no future if we are to meet the Paris goals. In Sweden, we have basically already gone through the phase out, and we are aiming for 100 percent renewable energy,” said Isabella Lövin, Sweden’s Deputy Prime Minister.
In addition to Government partners pledging to phasing out existing conventional coal power, they also commit to placing a moratorium on new stations without operational carbon capture and storage (CCS) – and given the track record of CCS, such plants will be very thin on the ground.
Businesses and other organisations to have joined the Alliance include BT, Salesforce, Unilever and Virgin Group. Business partners commit to powering their operations without coal and other partners to supporting clean power.
While Australian Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg has already signalled Australia won’t be joining the Powering Past Coal Alliance; there’s nothing stopping Australian state and territory governments from doing so. For example, while the USA’s federal government hasn’t signed on, California has.
On a related note, another alliance Australia may be asked to join is a pro-coal one.
Apparently, the Trump Administration is gearing up to start a “Clean Coal Alliance” to counter the anti-fossil fuel movement – and it’s rumoured Australia may be targeted as a potential member.
While on the topic of so-called “clean coal” and CCS, RenewEconomy reported on Friday the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) has delivered a less than glowing assessment of Australia’s carbon capture and storage programs.
One of the programs was the Carbon Capture and Storage Flagships (CCS Flagships) Program, which was established back in 2009. CCS Flagships was meant to support the construction and demonstration of large-scale integrated CCS projects in Australia.
According to the ANAO’s summary (PDF).
“The CCS Flagships projects are yet to reach the stage of deployable technology as originally envisaged in the program design. It is unclear whether the program is capable of delivering on its strategic policy objective as the program is due to close in 2020, and all program funding is currently committed.”
The cost to the Australian taxpayer for this program so far? $233 million. That would buy a lot of solar panels.
Earlier this month, the CEO of Norwegian power grid operator Statnett said the “game was over” for CCS, as renewables had destroyed the business case for it.
About Michael Bloch
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Do we know how many coal-related donations our political parties receive? Nobody is that dumb, corrupt is way more likely.
I had posted a couple of comments referring to the prospect of “donations” to political parties, and, the absence of tax payments by coal companies with several hundred millions of dollars of income, my post having been made about ten days ago, and having been lost in moderation;
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Bret Busby says:
December 10, 2017 at 9:22 pm
Your comment is awaiting moderation.
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at
https://www.solarquotes.com.au/blog/adani-coal-australia-mb0348/#comment-112237
Perhaps, the South Australian and Queensland state governments (and the next Tasmanian state government, if it is not a Loony Neanderthal Parasite government, as that state, I believe, does not burn coal to generate electricity), as the apparently more responsible of state governments in Australia, in terms of moving from filthy coal-fired electricity generation, to clean electricity generation, should join the Powering Past Coal Alliance.
As stated above,
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While Australian Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg has already signalled Australia won’t be joining the Powering Past Coal Alliance; there’s nothing stopping Australian state and territory governments from doing so. For example, while the USA’s federal government hasn’t signed on, California has.
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However, what is not mentioned above, is that California is not the only USA state that has joined the PPCA; as I mentioned in a post to the web page at
https://www.solarquotes.com.au/blog/australia-coal-alliance-hg0460/
“The US states of Washington and Oregon have already signed up to the Power Past Coal Alliance.”
(as at 17 November 2017; a month ago)
So, whilst the Australian federal government, and, its imperial ruler; the USA federal government, are a bunch of raving neanderthals, some state governments in both countries, have sufficient members who appear to have gone to school, and, learnt to read and write, and, thence, to think.
And, the state (and territory) governments in Australia, who have sufficient members who are educated, and, who can think, and, who do not believe that the Earth is flat, could help the cause, and, try to save the planet, and, try to save the lives of the plants and animals on the planet (before it is too late, and, while hope still exists), by signing up to the PPCA.