Plans for coal-fired power in Asia are 'disaster for planet' warns World Bank

Source: The Guardian

Plans for coal-fired power in Asia are 'disaster for planet' warns World Bank

Experts have offered stark warnings that proposed power plants in India,
China, Vietnam and Indonesia would blow Paris climate deal if they move ahead

Suzanne Goldenberg US environment correspondent
Thursday 5 May 2016 19.02 BST

Plans to build more coal-fired power plants in Asia would be a “disaster for the planet” and overwhelm the deal forged at Paris to fight climate change, the president of the World Bank said on Thursday.

In an unusually stark warning, the World Bank president, Jim Yong Kim, noted that countries in south and south-east Asia were on track to build hundreds more coal-fired power plants in the next 20 years – despite promises made at Paris to cut greenhouse gas emissions and pivot to a clean energy future.

In the US, coal use is in sharp decline – and the country’s biggest companies are in bankruptcy. But there is still strong demand for coal in south Asia and east Asia, where tens of millions still have no access to electricity.

On their own, China, India, Indonesia and Vietnam account for three-quarters of new coal-fired power plants expected to be built around the world in the next five years. In India alone about 300 million people live without access to electricity.

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Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/may/05/climate-change-coal-power-asia-world-bank-disaster