At Sherpa meet, G20 members agree to phase down unabated coal power
G20 members late Thursday agreed to make an effort towards the “phasedown of unabated coal power”, staying with the text of the Bali declaration on the issue. This was decided at the Sherpa-level deliberations that aim to finalise the text for the Leaders’ Declaration.
India’s proposal to expand it to “phase-down of fossil fuel” ran into stiff opposition from Saudi Arabia and Russia, people aware of the deliberations told ET.
The “phasedown of coal power”, agreed on in earlier declarations, is in the context of energy efficiency and in line with national circumstances, and does not impinge on India’s energy security, the people said.
The cue was taken from the Bali declaration where the phrase “phasedown of unabated coal power” found agreement among all members. The language has also been used earlier in the UNFCCC Glasgow Climate Pact and the Sharm el-Sheikh Implementation Plan. Unabated coal power is generally understood to mean coal power without carbon capture utilisation and storage.
There was no mention of a phasedown of coal power at the outcome of the G20 Energy Transition ministerial meeting in July, a prelude to the leaders’ summit.
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The Energy Transition Working Group had discussed the nuances of phasedown of fossil fuel for their joint outcome. Facing opposition from Saudi Arabia, Russia, China and South Africa, the text, among other paragraphs, was moved to ‘Chair’s Summary’ instead.
The four countries had also disagreed on the reference to the role of renewable energy in energy transitions and tripling of renewable energy capacities.
However, there was a fresh attempt at the Sherpa meeting to include phasedown
