Time is running out as Asia struggles to kick coal

Indonesia: Smokestacks belch noxious fumes into the air from a massive coal-fired power plant on the Indonesian coast, a stark illustration of Asia’s addiction to the fossil fuel which is threatening climate targets.

Asia-pacific accounts for about three-quarters of global coal consumption — even as the region struggles with the environmental and public health impacts of global warming, from deadly levels of air pollution in India to extreme heatwaves and wildfires in Australia.

Hopes for a cleaner future have been fired by pledges from top coal consumer China and other countries to go carbon neutral but much of the region is making a painfully slow transition to renewable sources.

“We are moving much slower than the impact of climate change. We are running out of time’’, warned Tata Mustasya, a Greenpeace energy campaigner in Indonesia.

Change is hard in one of the last bastions of the dirtiest fossil fuel, however — five Asian countries are responsible for 80 per cent of new coal power stations planned worldwide, according to a report from Carbon Tracker.

Commitments that have been made are too weak, analysts say, with promises to halt construction of plants and tighten overseas funding from key financing countries often not covering projects already planned.

And critics say that rich nations are not providing enough help, in terms of financing or technical know-how, to help poorer countries make the transition.

The challenge is illustrated by the enormous Suralaya coal plant on Indonesia’s Java island, one of the biggest in Southeast Asia, which can power about 14 million homes a year.

Indonesia has committed to be carbon neutral by 2060, and to stop building new coal-fired plants from 2023, but despite this — the facility is undergoing a $3.5 billion expansion that will boost its capacity.

Burning coal is responsible for a massive chunk of carbon dioxide emissions, making it a major threat to limiting global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius, as agreed in the 2015 Paris climate deal.

But beyond its contribution to global warming, it also exacts a heavy toll on local communities.

At a village of red-roofed houses in the shadow of the Suralaya plant, coal dust often builds up on rooftops and residents complain of poor health.