Africa-Press – Mozambique. Five African countries, including Mozambique, are planning to build coal-fired power plants, despite the global fight to end those very polluting production units, according to a report released on Wednesday.
According to the “No New Coal Handbook”, released today by think-tanks Ember, E3G and Global Energy Monitor, “five African countries still have coal-fired power plants planned”, including Mozambique, despite the global fight not to create more electricity production units based on that highly polluting energy source.
The five African countries are Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa and Zimbabwe, which are “amongst a minority group of just 21 countries that have more than one new coal-fired power plant planned,” the document said.
The new analysis “shows that the global activity chain for new coal-fired power projects is shrinking, rapidly, as the momentum builds towards no more new coal-fired plants beyond 2021.”
According to the same document, all projects in the five African countries “seek financing from China”, meaning they could face “an uncertain future”. This is because China recently announced it would “put an end to support for coal projects abroad,” the analysis recalls.
In fact, with that recent announcement by China that it will stop building coal-fired power projects abroad, which follows similar commitments made earlier this year by Japan and South Korea, the analysis predicts that “the cancellation of the global activity chain related to pre-construction coal projects will undoubtedly accelerate”.
In total, according to the document, 24 countries intended to receive support from China for new coal plants, and this announcement opens the door to the cancellation of these projects, giving priority to clean energy.
The document stresses that African nations are even “well-positioned to commit to the ‘No New Coal’ plan,” that is, to a world without coal-fired power plants.
“There are only four coal-fired power plants under construction on the continent, in South Africa and Zimbabwe, and only three plants have become operational since 2015,” the analysis reads.
The global coal power pipeline is shrinking.
The “No New Coal Handbook”, published by think tanks Ember, E3G and Global Energy Monitor, reveals the status of all coal-producing countries in the world that have not yet confirmed they will not build more power plants powered by that energy source.
The International Energy Agency has stated that “no new coal-fired power plants should be approved beyond 2021 to limit global warming to 1.5°C,” the document recalls.
The report identifies forty economies that could immediately commit to no new coal projects.
Thirty-six of these countries “have no projects planned or under construction, including the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Guinea, Mauritius, Namibia, Nigeria, Sudan and Zambia,” it highlights.
“Another 16 economies have only one proposed coal plant and could readily commit to no new coal projects, including Djibouti, Essuatini, Côte d’Ivoire, Kenya, Madagascar, Morocco, Niger and Tanzania,” it adds.
A recent report by E3G, Ember and GEM showed how the chain of activities related to proposed coal-fired power plants has decreased by 76% since the Paris Agreement in 2015.
“Since 2015, 44 governments have formally committed not to build new coal-fired power plants, including Angola, Ethiopia and Senegal,” it adds.
UN Secretary-General Guterres has called for “no more new coal-fired power plants by 2021”, while COP President-designate Alok Sharma called for COP26 to “leave coal behind” in November 2021.
The report released today comes when seven governments, including Sri Lanka, Chile and Germany, announced a “No New Coal Power Compact” on 24 September, inviting more countries to join the commitment ahead of the COP26 climate summit in November.
