There is a bold plan to kick the world’s coal habit

Understanding the Challenge of Energy Transition in the 21st Century: An Overview of Public Support for Renewable and Bio-Energy-Feasible Developments

There is a lot of work to be done. In 2021, some 675 million people worldwide still did not have access to electricity. This is down from 1.1 billion a decade or so ago, but the pace of progress has slowed. 660 million people will not have electricity in the next 16 years due to current trends. And projections indicate that some 1.9 billion people will still be using polluting and inefficient cooking systems fuelled by coal and wood (see go.nature.com/3s8d887). It’s bad news for health, biodiversity and the climate.

There is a mixed picture for renewable energy. The heat and transport sectors have not moved fast enough despite the growth in wind and solar power. The latest UN report states that renewable energy’s share of global energy consumption was 19.1% in 2020, but only one-third of that came from burning resources.

The study assessed 56 indicators across all 17 SDGs. One proposed intervention is an international climate finance mechanism that would levy fees on carbon emissions that would be redistributed through national programmes to reduce poverty. Reducing the consumption of meat and the production of which requires a lot of water, energy and land are both related to promoting healthy diet. This would benefit people on low incomes by lowering both food and energy prices.

The biggest challenge lies in translating these models to the real world. We need leaders that are aware of the latest science and able to draw on the research to build public support for the necessary energy transition. More public institutions that are willing to address system level problems are required. And all of this needs a science community that is willing and able to champion knowledge and evidence.

South Africa’s Komati Coal-Fired Power Station and the COP26 Climate Finance Summit: Progress towards a Sustainable Renewables Agenda

When the coal-fired power station first spun up its turbines in 1961, it had twice the capacity of any existing power station in South Africa. The Komati coal fired power plant has been in operation for more than half a century but has been retired since October of 2022, due to the cold weather and insufficient coal deliveries.

That arrived at the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland, in November 2021, in the form of a partnership between South Africa, European countries, and the US. Together, they made a deal to deliver $8.5 billion in loans and grants to help speed up South Africa’s transition to renewables, and to do so in a socially and economically just way.

There’s significant enthusiasm for JETPs in the climate finance arena, particularly given the stagnancy of global climate finance in general. At COP15 in Copenhagen in 2009, developed countries signed up to a goal of mobilizing $100 billion of climate finance for developing countries per year by 2020. None have met that target, and the agreement lapses in 2025. More funding for clear-cut strategies and commitments is hoped to lead to quicker moves toward renewable energy.

Indonesia, Vietnam, and the Republic of So Domingo have signed agreements worth a combined total of more than twenty billion dollars since South Africa pioneered the deal. Discussions are taking place for a possible agreement for India. Altogether, around $100 billion is on the table.