- Coal burning still accounts for about 20% of all of the European Union’s carbon emissions, with Germany and Poland by far the biggest polluters. Bloomberg’s initiative aims to speed up the phase-out of coal by capitalising on the fast falling costs of renewable energy alternatives and rising concerns about air pollution.
Where action is being taken, such as in the UK, coal is declining rapidly. Until recently, the UK was Europe’s third biggest coal polluter, with the fuel providing 40% of the nation’s electricity, but this has fallen to 2% in just five years. In Germany, coal emissions have only been falling slowly, though on Tuesday the city of Munich voted to close its coal-powered plant 13 years early.
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Bloomberg argues that the mass closure of coal plants in the US did not result from government action, but from civil society advocacy building on the falling costs of renewable energy: “Sometimes a little push will get you over, perhaps from a neighbour saying ‘I don’t want to breathe that stuff any more’.”
In October, Bloomberg said: “The war on coal … was started and continues to be led by communities who are tired of having their air and water poisoned when there are cleaner and cheaper alternatives available.”