COP26: Nations agree to cut out coal but critics say it's not enough

Coal plants, like this one in China, generate power cheaply but are the single biggest cause of climate change.

The UK says 40 nations have agreed to stop burning coal as a form of generating power.

Coal is the single biggest cause of climate change as the burning of it releases harmful greenhouse gases into the air.

At COP26 in Glasgow on Wednesday, heavy coal-using countries including Poland, Vietnam and Chile all pledged to find alternative, greener methods of generating power instead of the fossil fuel.

But some of the world's biggest polluters, including Australia, India, China and the US, did not sign up to the pledge.

Campaigners say they are pleased with the progress but it is not enough.

What does the pledge actually say?

Although progress has been made, coal power plants still produced around 37% of the world's electricity in 2019.

Many of the nations have agreed to not invest any more money into coal powered industry, both in their own countries and overseas.

The larger nations have said they will phase out coal power in the 2030s, with the poorer nations being allowed another decade to find alternative power sources like wind, solar or hydro power.

This is because greener energy sources are more expensive to build and run at the moment.

'Falls well short'

There has been criticism of the agreement because it does not mention the harmful use of gas and oil power, also fossil fuels.

Many also believe that if big polluters like China, Australia and India don't agree to deals like this, it is not going to have enough of an impact on the environment.

The UK has promised that from 2024 it will no longer use coal to generate electricity.

Juan Pablo Osornio, from charity organisation Greenpeace, said: "Overall this statement still falls well short of the ambition needed on fossil fuels in this critical decade."

He added: "The small print seemingly gives countries enormous leeway to pick their own phase-out date, despite the shiny headline."

UK business and energy secretary Kwasi Kwarteng was more upbeat, saying: "The world is moving in the right direction, standing ready to seal coal's fate and embrace the environmental and economic benefits of building a future that is powered by clean energy."

CO2 back to pre-pandemic levels

Meanwhile, scientists have found that global carbon dioxide emissions are set to hit the levels they were at before the coronavirus pandemic began in 2020.

Despite other deals also being struck at COP26 this week on limiting emissions of methane and on curbing deforestation, emissions from coal and gas are predicted to grow more in 2021 than they fell the previous year - though carbon released from oil use is expected to remain below 2019 levels.

The amount of harmful gases in the air in 2020 fell by 5.4% as people were forced to lock down, because of the reduced number of cars on the road, factories in use and flights around the world.

But a scientific report by the Global Carbon Project predicts CO2 emissions will rise by 4.9% this year.

They say it is proof of how unstable our environment is, and shows our chance of limiting the global temperature rise to the critical 1.5C is very much under threat.