No new coal-fired plants from 2020: EU

Three months after China announced it is cancelling plans to build more than 100 coal-fired plants, national energy companies from every EU nation – except Poland and Greece – have pledged that no new coal-fired plants will be built in the EU after 2020.

In 2016, new coal plant constructions around the world decreased by 62%, according to a Greenpeace report. This can be largely attributed to policy shifts in China and India that have led to decreased coal demand and work frozen at more than a hundred sites across both countries.

Elsewhere, the EU and the United States are leading the way in retiring existing coal capacity – accounting for majority of the 64GW retired in 2016.

The EU’s latest move is in line with a pathway for meeting the 2C target laid out by climate scientists last month, as a way of limiting future stranded asset risks. Read here to learn more about the implications of this pledge.