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Join on Telegram Rabat – American billionaire Michael Bloomberg, currently a special envoy on climate change for the United Nations, announced a new international initiative on Monday that would see 25 countries in Africa, Asia, and South America, phase out coal by 2040.
According to a report from the New York Times, the announcement did not come with a financial pledge.
Instead, Bloomberg said that the initiative would focus on supporting countries to develop adequate legislative infrastructure and transfer the know-how necessary to phase out coal from the economy.
Countries involved in the initiative, including Morocco, are set to form an alliance under a partnership with charity organization Bloomberg Philanthropies and Sustainable Finance For All, a United Nations body, to achieve the initiative’s goals.
The initiative is primarily focused on countries with significant potential in renewable energy and that are set to see a spike in energy demand in the coming years.
Through the plan, developing countries hope to close down all of their coal plants by 2040. Some developed nations are setting a target to phase out coal by 2030, the NY Times report indicates.
Commenting on the new UN-led initiative, Bloomberg said: “We’ve seen that it’s possible to expand access to clean, affordable energy and cut carbon emissions at the same time.”
Bloomberg further explained that phasing out coal could become a reality as is seen in the United States, where two-thirds of coal plans have already shut down thanks to activism and legislation that are making it more expensive than gas or solar energy.
Highlighting the importance of the initiative, the billionaire added that in developing countries, policy analysis and technical assistance are “the side of energy development that doesn’t get a lot of attention but can mean the difference between investment in coal and clean power.”
The list of countries taking part in the initiative includes 25 countries such as Brazil, Mexico, Egypt, and Pakistan, among others.
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