U.N.’S FIGUERES: ‘COAL MUST CHANGE RAPIDLY AND DRAMATICALLY’

Karen Frantz
GHG Monitor
11/22/13

The top U.N. climate diplomat called for the safe implementation of carbon capture and storage technology on all new power plants—even the most efficient—in the keynote address at the Coal & Climate Summit in Warsaw, Poland this week. In her speech, Christiana Figueres, executive secretary of the U.N.’s Framework Convention on Climate Change, laid out the case for a dramatic change in how the world uses coal in the future, saying that it is not possible to continue down the path of unabated coal use if the global community is going to meet an agreed goal of limiting climate warming to less than 2 degrees Celsius. “Coal must change rapidly and dramatically for everyone’s sake,” she said.

In addition to her call for CCS, she argued for the closure of all existing subcritical coal-fired plants and leaving most coal reserves in the ground. “These are not marginal or trivial changes, these are transformations that go to the core of the coal industry, and many will say it simply cannot be done,” she said. “But the phrase ‘where there’s a will, there’s a way’ is tantamount to human history because will precedes innovation, and innovation precedes transformation. … I urge every coal company to honestly assess the financial risks of business as usual; anticipate increasing regulation, growing finance restrictions and diminishing public acceptance; and leverage technology to reduce emissions across the entire coal value chain.”

Figueres faced fierce criticism for her attendance at the event, with detractors saying it was inappropriate given that Poland, which generates a huge portion of its energy through coal, was also hosting the U.N. Climate talks at the same time. But the Polish government has defended the summit, and many panels at the event focused on CCS technology.