Solutions Bank

Through policy reform, investment and coordination at both the national and subnational levels, Canada is phasing out coal emissions while protecting workers and communities.

In 2012, Canada introduced regulations requiring coal-fired power plants to meet stringent performance standards to limit their emissions. The province of Ontario was the first jurisdiction in North America to eliminate coal power by banning it in law. It committed to phasing out coal in 2003 and closed its last coal unit in 2014, moving away from a grid where coal previously represented 25% of the supply mix.

The province of Alberta eliminated coal-fired plants in 2024, 6 years ahead of schedule, resulting in a decline in emissions from electricity generation by 53% since 2004. The federal Task Force on Just Transition for Coal Power Workers and Communities produced concrete recommendations for just transition priorities. Federal and provincial support for skills development, economic diversification, and infrastructure projects is enabling the transition.

Thanks to climate goals and the Emissions Trading System (ETS), the European Union is delivering a rapid transition from coal to clean energy, while increasing economic growth and energy security and delivering substantial support to coal regions and communities in transition.

Over the past decade, coal power use in the European Union (EU) has fallen by 61%, while solar power output more than tripled and wind generation more than doubled over the same period.

The increase in wind and solar generation in the EU also helped avoid cumulative emissions of some 460m tonnes of carbon dioxide (MtCO2) and €59bn in fossil-fuel imports over the past five years.

The EU has supported affected workers and communities with €17.5 billion through the Just Transition Fund. Its 40+ coal regions received technical assistance through the EU’s Coal Regions in Transition platform.

The coal-power heartland of South Korea – Chungnam Province – phases out coal power plants in a just way through bold policies and intensive collaboration at home and abroad.

Between 2018 and 2022, Chungnam had reduced its CO2 emissions by 7Mt, from 161Mt to 154Mt. The province is creating a fund to support a just energy transition – it will cover training and support for workers to find new roles, measures to attract and develop new businesses and community welfare projects.

Eastern Wielkopolska region and ZE PAK utility in Poland make a clear commitment to phase out coal by 2030 and organise a public dialogue to ensure a just transition for workers and communities.

The clear commitment to move away from coal by 2030 resulted in the award of EU funds which enabled the implementation of the workers’ “Pathway to Employment after Coal” programme – the most generous support scheme for coal workers in Poland.

Thanks to ambitious policies and an agreement with industry and communities, Chile is phasing out coal fast, despite growing energy demand and a young coal fleet. In Chile, the proportion of electricity from coal has dropped from 46% in 2013 to 17% in 2023; in the same period, electricity generation from wind and solar has increased from 0.8% to 28%.

This was achieved thanks to strong government commitment and collaboration of multiple stakeholders, including the owners of the coal facilities. Clean energy is expected to create 43,000 new jobs this decade in the regions where coal power plants are in, significantly surpassing jobs lost by the closure of these plants.

Spain has decreased coal generation by 92% between 2018 and 2024 and is set to achieve coal phase out while protecting affected workers and communities, thanks to ambitious just transition measures. In fact, Spain recently achieved an entire month without coal generation for the first time in 140 years.

Spain is replacing jobs lost in the industries and regions affected by coal phase-out with new employment opportunities, many associated to net-zero industries and enhancing alternative local economic sectors, generating billions in private investment in the process.

South Africa’s strategy of multi-stakeholder collaboration to deliver the transition away from coal helps the country support vulnerable workers and communities and mobilise and effectively disburse large scale international support.

The Just Transition Implementation Plan, prepared based on feedback from key stakeholders, addresses key challenges in ensuring a just transition away from coal. Pledges of international pledges for the country’s just transition (in concessional loans, grants and commercial finance) now stand at $11.8 billion.

Thanks to strong government policies and investments and innovations in the grid, the UK phased out coal power rapidly while maintaining a secure supply of electricity.

By reducing coal generation from nearly 40% in 2012 to zero in 2024, the UK avoided 880 MtCO2e, equivalent to more than double the UK’s total annual greenhouse gas emissions in 2023. While phasing out coal, the UK’s National Electricity System Operator (NESO) has been working to integrate more renewables into the electricity grid as well as introduce new innovative technologies aimed at keeping Britain’s electricity network in balance, increasing its resilience in the process.

Germany’s experience demonstrates that coal phase-out and energy security can go hand in hand.

Despite the expansion of renewables over the last two decades, which provided almost 63% Germany’s electricity last year, households have seen electricity supply disruptions roughly halve over the same time frame to only ten minutes a year, with the country boasting one of the most reliable grids of all industrialised nations.

Thanks to strong political commitment, proactive policy framework and international collaborations, Morocco has become a global leader in renewable energy development, aiming to reduce its reliance on coal power, decrease emissions, improve air quality, enhance energy independence, create new jobs and foster economic growth.

Wind and solar supplied nearly 25% of Morocco’s electricity in 2024, up from 9% in 2015, representing significant progress, given its historical reliance on fossil fuels.

Thanks to strong policies that have driven an increase in renewable energy capacity, the Philippines is on track to decrease its coal generation for the first time in decades, helping the country reduce its reliance on imported fuels and boost its energy security.

Coal-fired power generation in the Philippines fell in the first half of 2025, putting the country on track for its first annual decline in coal generation in decades. The Philippines has built a pipeline of 99GW of wind and solar projects. In 2024 alone, the Philippines added more than 1 gigawatt (GW) of solar. Solar power is already the cheapest source of electricity generation in the Philippines.

Thanks to innovative financing, utility ACEN in the Philippines closes its coal plant 25 years early, providing a model for mobilizing support and unlocking similar projects across emerging markets.

By reducing the coal plant operating life by 25 years to 2040, 50 million tons of carbon emissions have been avoided. The company is now exploring whether it can close the plant in 2030, with the help of transition credits, and replace it with renewables while ensuring a just transition. This could help avoid further 19 million tons of emissions.

Utility Engie retires its Tocopilla coal plant in Chile early and replaces it by a new wind farm thanks to a blended finance mechanism.

Retiring the coal plant 20 months early led to 500 – 700 tons of avoided CO2 emissions. Engie also managed the transition of its employees through a just transition plan.

The $1.6 billion CIF’s Accelerating Coal Transition (ACT) investment programme is the first dedicated finance facility in the world specifically designed to reduce emissions from coal-fired power plants.

Launched at COP26, the initiative has currently programmed $1.6 billion of concessional capital to facilitate the coal-to-clean transition in EMDEs. ACT Investment Plans are being developed and executed by Indonesia, South Africa, North Macedonia, the Philippines and the Dominican Republic.

The Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM) is a ground-breaking initiative designed to accelerate the transition to clean energy.

The programme accelerates the retirement or repurposing of coal-fired power plants using blended finance from public and private sources through refinancing, acquisition, or sustainability-linked corporate loans while scaling up investment in clean energy and energy storage. The pilot transactions within the programme offer significant learnings, including on the need to manage the implications on grids, public budgets and livelihoods of the affected workers, businesses and communities.

Thanks to a clear, sustained political commitment to coal phase-out and renewable energy made by the government, coupled with a comprehensive and inclusive just transition process, North Macedonia was able to secure significant support for its coal transition and make quick progress in distributing the funds.

$85 million from CIF ACT program for accelerated coal phase-out in North Macedonia is expected to mobilise a total of €3 billion into the country’s wider Just Energy Transition Investment Platform (JETIP) by 2030, aimed to deliver on the country’s commitment to phase out coal by 2030 and accelerate the retirement of 824 MW of existing coal power generation.

The CIF funding will be invested in renewable energy and energy storage as well as in human capital, promoting skills development and access to alternative livelihoods to support a just transition with an estimated 3,000 direct beneficiaries.

Thanks to strong political commitment by the government, the Dominican Republic has demonstrated that even in emerging economies with rapidly growing electricity demand coal transition can enhance energy security and leave no one behind.

$85 million from CIF ACT program for the retirement of two coal power plants of over 310 MW in total is expected to bring in over $1.2 billion in co-financing and enable high-quality transition credits to incentivise the transformation. The deal will increase energy security (the plants will be replaced with renewable energy or battery projects, and the transmission system will be upgraded, diversifying the country’s energy mix and reducing reliance on coal imports – currently all coal is imported), and support affected workers and local communities.