COP30

COP30 is about delivery.

At COP28, countries made ambitious commitments to get on track for the 1.5°C goal, including to accelerate the phase-down of unabated coal power and the transition away from fossil fuels. At COP30 this year, countries need to move from pledges to practical action, turning these commitments into implementation on the ground.  

Substantial real-world progress has been made on the coal-to-clean transition, but it is still far from enough to deliver the commitments of COP28. The good news is that solutions are emerging that can accelerate this transition. The challenge now is to support governments in implementing strong enabling policies, develop a pipeline of coal retirement projects, and scale up public and private finance. COP30 can be the moment when countries take concrete action to do just that.  

• The PPCA’s Coal Transition Factsheet, which includes facts and figures on the progress of coal transitions to date and the necessary next steps. 
• The PPCA’s Solutions Bank which shows 17 examples of best practice in transitioning away from coal from 5 continents. 

New Members

On Monday, 17th November at COP30, the Republic of Korea and Bahrain joined the PPCA.  

The Republic of Korea currently operates the 7th largest coal fleet in the world. By joining the PPCA, the Korean government has officially announced, for the first time, its commitment to stop building new unabated coal power plants and phasing out existing unabated coal power plants.  

This announcement further demonstrates momentum in discussions on how to accelerate the transition away from fossil fuels at COP30. 

The Republic of Korea’s heavily industrialised and export-focused economy is set to gain a competitive advantage from this commitment, making it a more attractive place for businesses around the world to invest, as they increasingly seek zero-carbon power. Coal phase-out will also help the country save billions of dollars in energy imports, as almost all of the country’s coal is imported, making it the fourth largest coal importer in the world.  

The Korean government has pledged to work with other members of the PPCA to advance the coal-to-clean transition globally. The Republic of Korea is the second country in Asia to join the PPCA and will play a key role in supporting the transition away from coal power in the Asia-Pacific region.  

At COP30, the PPCA has also announced two other new members. Guatemala joined the PPCA committing not to build new coal power plants and to work with the Alliance to phase out coal power before 2040. Bahrain, has never had any coal power plants and has committed to not build any in the future. The two governments have also pledged to work with other members of the PPCA to advance the coal-to-clean transition globally. 

Find out about our new members here: 

Plan to Accelerate Coal Transitions 

At COP30 the PPCA has launched a new Plan to Accelerate Coal Transitions, developed with 29 countries, financial institutions and organisations, laying out concrete, actionable steps to speed up the shift from coal to clean power. The Plan aims to foster consensus on how to move from pledges to action at and beyond COP30. 

Forming part of the COP30 Brazilian Presidency’s Action Agenda, the Plan aims to translate the COP28 pledge into real-world delivery, responding to the COP30 Presidency’s call to make COP30 an “Implementation COP”. It is meant to guide the 195 Parties of the Paris Agreement in their discussions at COP30 on how to move forward on the implementation of the transition away from fossil fuels. For this purpose, it assesses the key challenges and identifies existing policy, planning and financing solutions that can be scaled up, as well as areas where international collaboration is needed to rapidly develop new solutions. 

The Plan has been coordinated by the Powering Past Coal Alliance (PPCA), co-chaired by the United Kingdom and Canada, and builds on two years of consultations with developed and developing countries, and financial institutions led by the Coal Transition Commission (CTC), co-chaired by Indonesia and France. 

29 countries, financial institutions and organisations, including Canada, Denmark, the European Commission, France, Germany, Chile, Indonesia, the Marshall Islands, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Vanuatu, the Climate Investment Funds, the European Bank for Development and Reconstruction and South Africa’s Presidential Climate Commission have provided feedback during the development of the Plan and are going to work together towards its objectives.  

The Coal Transition Commission at COP30

At COP30 the CTC release two new reports “Growing the Pipeline of Coal-to-Clean Projects” and “From Flex to Phase-out“. Together, the technical reports aim to provide evidence-based solutions and lessons learned to identify opportunities to scale the pipeline of coal retirement projects as well as assess the role of flexible operation of specific coal plants in emerging markets.

The result of several engagements and in-depth analyses by partners, the reports highlight critical actions that can be taken in the near term to accelerate the coal to clean transition. For example, they show that nearly half of ASEAN’s coal power can be retired early using finance solutions that exist today. They also examine the critical role of flexible sources in supporting renewable energy growth, and the near-term role that coal flexibility with robust guardrails may play in certain circumstances.     

Together, these technical reports provide governments, utilities, financiers, and practitioners with practical tools to accelerate the transition away from coal in emerging economies.