Over 40 countries, incl Ukraine, agree to phase out coal-fired power within 20 years

The world's largest economies should phase out coal-fired generation by 2030, and smaller ones by 2040

At the COP26 Climate Summit in Glasgow, more than 40 countries agreed to phase out their use of coal-fired power, the Guardian reported, citing the British government.

The world's largest economies should phase out coal-fired generation by 2030, and smaller ones by 2040.

This initiative, in particular, was joined by countries such as Canada, Poland, Vietnam, Chile, as well as Ukraine, where coal generation, which is considered the most "dirty" type of power production, takes a significant share in the power mix.

At the same time, the largest countries in terms of coal generation – China, Australia, India, the United States – did not support this initiative.

The agreement also provides for the abandonment of investments in coal-fired power both domestically and abroad, along with the cessation of construction of new coal-fired power plants.

In addition, more than 100 financial institutions and organizations are reported to have also agreed to stop funding coal projects.

"The end of coal is in sight," Kwasi Kwarteng, the UK's business secretary, said.

He said the world is heading in the right direction with a willingness to decide the fate of coal and reap the environmental and economic benefits of building a clean power future.

The goal of "consigning coal to history" has been a key focus for the UK as host of the Cop26 summit, which aims to put the world on track to limit global heating to 1.5 Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

The share of coal-fired generation in the global power amounted to 37% in 2019.

The COP26 Climate Summit in Glasgow aims to tackle climate change. This year, for the first time, the summit will summarize the preliminary results of what has been done to overcome the crisis since the signing of the Paris Agreement – an international treaty adopted in 2015, the main task of which is to keep the increase in the global average temperature below 2 degrees Celsius and the desire to limit this increase to 1.5 degrees.

COP26 started in Glasgow on October 31st and will run until November 12. Representatives from nearly 200 countries are expected to attend.