McKenna trolls coal during U.S. event
A U.S. effort to stoke the fires of coal-powered electricity didn’t escape the attention of Canada’s environment minister Monday as Catherine McKenna used her Twitter account to troll the carbon-based fuel just as American officials were extolling its virtues.
McKenna is in Bonn, Germany, for the 2017 United Nations climate change talks, where the rules for implementing the 2015 Paris accord are being hammered out — and where she and British counterpart Claire Perry hope to convince the world to abandon coal-fired power.
By contrast, the United States — with President Donald Trump at its helm — has famously promised to “end the war on coal.”
Having declared his intention to pull the U.S. out of the Paris accord, Trump dispatched George David Banks, his special assistant on energy and the environment, to Bonn to host an event promoting coal, natural gas and nuclear energy, as well as technology that can reduce their impact on the environment.
The International Energy Agency forecasts global demand for coal and natural gas will not diminish over the next 25 years, Banks said Monday. Coal already produces two-fifths of the worlds energy supply, and another 1,600 coal plants are in the works right now. And by 2040, Southeast Asia will get half its power from coal plants.
“Without a question, fossil fuels will continue to be used and we would argue that’s it’s in the global interest to make sure that when fossil fuels are used, that it’s as clean and efficient as possible,” Banks said.
He acknowledged as “provocative” the decision to promote fossil fuels at an international climate change conference, but argued that while renewables have a bright future, much of the necessary innovation to store and transmit power from wind and solar sources is still in its infancy.
“Before that innovation is realized, the idea that the world can somehow meet ambitious mitigation goals, support development in poor countries the way we should and ensure energy access by only deploying solar and wind is naive.”
All the while, McKenna was on her Twitter account, extolling the virtues of alternatives to coal in a series of tweets that stood in sharp contrast to the U.S. position.
“Burning coal responsible for 41 per cent of our global emissions,” McKenna tweeted. “The largest single source worldwide. Phasing out coal represents a massive opportunity and #ClimateAction.”
Coal, she continued, is “the most powerful fossil fuel in the world. We must all work together to get off fuel and transition to cleaner forms of energy.”
Some 23 countries, states and cities have either already phased out coal or have a plan to do so, including Canada, she further noted to her followers. “In less than a decade, solar will be cheaper than coal in China, India, Mexico, the U.K. and Brazil.”
Many environmental activists argue there is no such thing as clean coal, though even McKenna and Perry’s alliance appears to allow for coal if it’s accompanied by carbon capture and storage technology.
Canada, where coal accounts for about one-tenth of the electricity supply, has committed to phasing out coal power plants by 2030.