To stop financing coal projects, UK wants global deal

To stop financing coal projects, UK wants global deal
May 14, 2021, 10:56 am

People jog down almost empty Regent Street in New Year's Day amid the coronavirus outbreak, in London, Britain, on January 1, 2021. (Reuters)

LONDON (Reuters)

A senior government minister said on May 14 that Britain wants to broker a global deal to stop the financing of coal projects when it hosts a major climate conference in November.

Alok Sharma, the minister in charge of preparations for the United Nations COP26 summit in Glasgow, said significant action was needed to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, a threshold scientists say can prevent the worst impacts of climate change.

Sharma said that “If we are serious about 1.5 degrees, Glasgow must be the COP that consigns coal to history."

“We are working directly with governments, and through international organisations, to end international coal financing. This is a personal priority,” he added.

But environmental campaigners say British financial institutions have a pivotal role in funding coal mines and coal-fired power stations elsewhere in the world.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has committed to lower the country’s greenhouse gas emissions to 78% of their level in 1990 by 2035, and to cut net emissions to zero by 2050.

Reuters

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