Enjoyed reading our article?
Berlin | October 30th, 2024
Two weeks before the world’s governments meet for COP29 in Baku, Urgewald and 51 NGO partners1 released the 2024 “Global Coal Exit List” (GCEL), a publicdatabase of 1,579 companies operating along the thermal coal value chain.
“While more renewable energy capacity was installed last year than ever before, the coal industry remains en route to collapse our climate. Nine years afterthe Paris Agreement was signed, thermal coal production is at an unprecedentedhigh and the world’s coal plant fleet is still growing,” says Heffa Schuecking, director of Urgewald. In 2015, the world’s installed coal capacity was 1,910 GW. Today, it equals 2,126 GW. Over the past year alone, global coal-fired capacitygrew by 30 GW, a net increase that is larger than Poland’s entire coal plant fleet. “Future generations will never understand why this industry was allowed to keepon expanding in the 2020s although the consequences were spelled out at each andevery climate summit,” says Schuecking.
40% of companies listed on the 2024 GCEL are “coal developers” and plan to either develop new thermal coal mines, coal transport infrastructure or coal powerplants. “Investing in these companies is like setting new fires in a house that isalready burning. Financial institutions that are serious about the Paris goals mustimmediately ban investments in coal developers,” warns Schuecking.
Read more here: urgewald_PR_GCEL
