Power Down to Power Up: Why Shutting Coal Plants is a Win

As international agencies, climate groups, and governments advocate for a transition to clean energy and Net-Zero, the closure of coal plants has become a focal point of global energy policy. Reports highlighting the benefits of retirement of coal-fired power plants (CFPPs) are increasingly prevalent, highlighting the urgency and advantages of this shift. The International Energy Agency also emphasized the need to end investment in new unabated coal-fired power plants and retire existing ones in one of its reports.

Countries like Malaysia and Germany are accelerating their plans to retire CFPPs, while developing nations employ various financial tools to facilitate a smooth transition. In this global push towards achieving Net-Zero by 2050, addressing the retirement of CFPPs has become a priority. In a recent report by S&P Global, it said that power generation from coal is a key obstacle to Net-Zero.??

Several critical factors drive the necessity to transition from coal to cleaner energy sources:

1. Environmental Protection: Coal-fired power plants are one of the largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions, contributing significantly to climate change. Coal represented 41% of global CO2 emissions, according to the Global Carbon Budget 2023 report. By retiring these plants, we can drastically reduce carbon emissions, helping to mitigate global warming and its associated impacts.?

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