Five African countries, including Mozambique, are planning to build coal-fired power plants despite a global fight to end those highly polluting plants, according to a report released Wednesday.
According to the "No New Coal Handbook", released by the think tanks Ember, E3G and Global Energy Monitor, "five African countries still have coal-fired power plants planned", among them Mozambique, despite the global fight not to create more electricity production units based on this highly polluting energy source.
The five African countries are Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa and Zimbabwe, which are "among a minority group of only 21 countries that have more than one new coal-fired power plant in the planning stages," the document says.
The new analysis "shows that the global activity chain for new coal-fired power projects is shrinking, rapidly, as the momentum grows towards no more new coal-fired plants beyond 2021."
According to the same document, all projects in the five African countries "seek funding from China," which means they could face "an uncertain future. Because China recently announced that it will put "an end to support for coal projects abroad," the analysis recalls.
Incidentally, 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, there were 24 countries that wanted to receive support from China for new coal plants, and this announcement opens the door to canceling 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 states.
The "No New Coal Handbook," published by the Ember, E3G and Global Energy Monitor think tanks, reveals the status of all the world's coal-producing countries that have not yet confirmed that they will no longer build power plants powered by that energy source.
The International Energy Agency has stated that "no new coal 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-Conakry, Mauritius, Namibia, Nigeria, Sudan, and Zambia," he highlights.
"Another 16 economies have only one proposed coal plant and could readily commit to no new coal projects, including Djibouti, Essuatini, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Madagascar, Morocco, Niger and Tanzania," he 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 already formally committed to not building new coal-fired power plants, including Angola, Ethiopia and Senegal," he adds.
UN Secretary-General Guterres 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 Wednesday comes at a time when seven governments, including those of Sri Lanka, Chile and Germany, announced a "No New Coal Power Compact" on September 24, inviting more countries to join the commitment before the COP26 climate summit in November.
Lusa Agency