Fiji has joined the Powering Past Coal Alliance, a global partnership to accelerate clean growth and climate protection through the rapid phase-out of traditional coal power.

The Alliance, founded by the United Kingdom and Canada, includes 25 partners across a broad range of governments, businesses, and organisations committed to a safer climate, healthier people, and a cleaner economy.

With 40 per cent of the world’s electricity still generated from coal, phasing out coal power is one of the most important steps countries can take to meet their Paris Agreement commitments.

The phase-out of coal will reduce a major source of air pollution that harms the health of millions of people every year. Today, clean growth presents a valuable investment opportunity as global investments in renewable power far surpass those in coal-fired electricity.

The Alliance calls on government partners to phase out existing traditional coal power and a moratorium on any new traditional coal power stations without operational carbon capture and storage, businesses and non-government partners to power their operations without the use of coal, and all partners to support clean power policies and investments, as well as restrict financing for traditional coal power without carbon capture and storage.

The Alliance is committed to achieving the phase-out in an economically inclusive manner, including the appropriate support for workers and local communities.

“Reducing global coal consumption should be a vital and urgent priority for all countries and states,” said the United Kingdom’s Minister for Climate Change and Industry, Claire Perry.

“The Powering Past Coal Alliance will signal to the world that the time of coal has passed,” Ms Perry said.

“Phasing out coal power is good news for the climate, for our health, and for our kids,” said Canada’s Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Catherine McKenna. “Coal is literally choking our cities, with close to a million people dying every year from coal pollution. I’m thrilled to see so much global momentum for the transition to clean energy – and this is only the beginning,” Ms McKenna said.

The Partners include Alberta, Angola, Austria, Belgium, British Columbia, Canada, Costa Rica, Denmark, Finland, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Marshall Islands, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Niue, Ontario, Portugal, Quebec, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Vancouver, and Washington.

The Alliance aims to grow to 50 partners by COP24, which will be held December 2018 in Poland.

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