Coal Is Out: 27 Governments Join Powering Past Coal Alliance To Phase Out Coal Globally

BONN, GERMANY -- Today, Canada and the UK announced the Powering Past Coal Alliance in partnership with 25 other governments from around the world. The alliance -- comprised of Alberta, Angola, Austria, Belgium, British Columbia, Canada, Costa Rica, Denmark, El Salvador, Fiji, Finland, France, Italy, Luxembourg, Marshall Islands, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Niue, Ontario, Oregon, Portugal, Quebec, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Vancouver, and Washington state -- has announced the goal of moving OECD countries beyond coal by 2030 and by 2050 for the rest of the world. Their aim is to have 50 members by the 2018 UN climate negotiations and will be open for businesses to join.

Today’s announcement follows on the formation of the European Beyond Coal campaign at the beginning of November, and the United States reaching the milestone of 50 percent of its coal fleet either retiring or announcing retirement.

In response, Sierra Club Global Climate Policy Director John Coequyt released the following statement:I

"Today’s announcement highlights something we’ve known for a long time: meaningful climate action requires moving beyond coal. That means committing to a phaseout of dirty coal power and a just transition to a 100 percent clean energy economy, with good, family-wage union jobs. By moving away from coal, the world will be well on its way to clean air, clean water, and climate stability. The governments who have joined this alliance just demonstrated how countries should be taking meaningful action on climate, and we applaud them for this critical step to move the world beyond coal.”