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Christiana
Figueres, executive secretary UNFCCC, Speaks to the World Coal Association in
Warsaw: invest in renewables and leave most of your coal underground. The
path forward begins in the past, recognizing that coal played a key role in the
history of our economic development. From heating to transportation to the
provision of electricity, coal has undoubtedly enabled much of our progress
over the last 200 years.
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Coal
was at the heart of the developed world’s Industrial Revolution and brought
affordable energy to parts of the developing world. However, while society has
benefitted from coal-fuelled development, we now know there is an unacceptably
high cost to human and environmental health.
The
science is clear. The IPCC Fifth Assessment Report outlines our predicament. We
are at unprecedented GHG concentrations in the atmosphere; our carbon budget is
half spent. If we continue to meet energy needs as we have in the past, we will
overshoot the internationally agreed goal to limit warming to less than two
degree Celsius.
AR5
is not science fiction; it is science fact.
AR5
is the overwhelming consensus of 200 lead authors synthesizing the work of 600
scientists who analysed 9000 peer-reviewed publications. AR5 is arguably the
most rigorous scientific report ever written. The findings of the AR5 have been
endorsed by 195 governments, including all of those in which you operate.
The
science is a clarion call for the rapid transformation of the coal industry. We
need to radically rethink coal’s place in our energy mix.
Development
banks have stopped funding unabated coal. Commercial financial institutions are
analysing the implications of unburnable carbon for their investment
strategies. Pricing of GHG emissions is on the rise, evidenced by trading
markets coming online around the globe. And, international policy is moving us
toward a global low-emission economy.
All
of this tells me that the coal industry faces a business continuation risk that
you can no longer afford to ignore.
Like
any other industry, you have a fiduciary responsibility to your workforce and
your shareholders. Like any other industry, you are subject to the major
political, economic and social shifts of our time. And by now it should be
abundantly clear that further capital expenditures on coal can go ahead only if
they are compatible with the two degree Celsius limit.
The coal
industry has the opportunity to be part of the worldwide climate solution by
responding proactively to the current paradigm shift.
Read the entire speech at UNEP.
COAL image, gloved finger image and ground image via Shutterstock. Morphed by Robin Blackstone.
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