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The PPCA is responding to the growing demand for support on the transition from coal to clean energy by enabling membership for national governments that are in the process of developing and implementing ambitious actions on coal phase-out.

Demolition of Richborough Power Station, UK – shirokazan, flickr, CC BY 2.0

Since its launch at COP23 in November 2017, the Powering Past Coal Alliance (PPCA) has grown to over 80 members from national governments, sub-national jurisdictions, and businesses committed to accelerating the global phase-out of unabated coal-fired electricity.

Over this period, we have sought to support our members through peer-to-peer exchange of best practice, including through the establishment of Taskforces on Utilities and Just Transition, and publication of Finance Principles. In partnership with Bloomberg Philanthropies we have created compelling videos and shared analytical insights on progress being made, helping to raise the profile of action on coal phase out through events at the world’s major climate and energy events. In parallel, we have shared our experience beyond our membership, including through financial support to World Bank energy transition programmes, and participation in the European Union’s Coal Regions in Transition Platform.

At the 10th Clean Energy Ministerial in May 2019 we hosted a Global Coal Transition Dialogue, which highlighted the growing appetite for the PPCA to further expand its outreach beyond its current membership. PPCA members have subsequently considered how the Alliance can further engage and encourage efforts by national governments that are at an earlier stage in the development of their transition from coal to clean energy.

Expanding collaboration

The global imperative to collaborate on coal phase-out has never been greater. Ahead of the upcoming UN Climate Action Summit to be held in New York City, UN Secretary-General Guterres has issued a call for governments to curtail coal power generation and to stop the approval of new coal power plants by 2020.

Against this backdrop, the co-chairs of the PPCA are excited to announce an update to the membership structure of the Alliance, which will increase its ability to work with, and offer support to, an expanded set of national governments that are actively working on their transition from coal to clean energy.

As of September 2019, the PPCA will now offer membership to national governments that are in the process of developing and implementing ambitious actions on coal phase-out, by committing to:

  1. Stop building new unabated coal plants domestically;
  2. Stop providing international finance to unabated coal;
  3. Set a phase-out date; and,
  4. Align policies with the Paris Agreement goal to limit global temperature rise to well below 2°C, with efforts to limit it to 1.5°C.

Declaration Group

In support of this effort, existing and new PPCA members that fully endorse the PPCA Declaration will form a Declaration Group, reaffirming the Alliance’s commitment to phase out unabated coal no later than 2030 in countries that are part of the OECD and the European Union, and by no later than 2050 in the rest of the world.

The Declaration Group will encourage all members to work towards endorsing the Declaration at a future time, noting specific national contexts and conditions.

We are excited to expand our membership offer to support a wider group of countries and expand collaboration on coal phase-out through the PPCA. Only by welcoming all committed actors to the table can the PPCA meet its ultimate goal of accelerating the transition from coal to clean energy.

For further information please contact secretariat@poweringpastcoal.org

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