A group of countries around the world have launched an initiative to support developing countries in phasing out coal power. Coal is the single largest cause of global temperature increases.
On Thursday, Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod (S) announced a Danish contribution of 100 million DKK to the initiative at the UN climate conference COP26.
- With this money lies a desire to quickly close coal power plants and have some resources to launch innovative projects to replace coal power with something else, says Kofod from Glasgow.
The 100 million DKK announced in the government's proposal for a finance law for 2022 will go to a new program in the international fund CIF. The focus is currently on four countries. South Africa, India, Indonesia and the Philippines.
- By being able to allocate the 100 million DKK and create an alliance to get action behind the war on coal, then we can push forward and lead this development, says Jeppe Kofod.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs will meet with Indonesia's Minister of Energy on Thursday. Indonesia is the world's largest exporter of coal, and the country uses coal power on a large scale.
- It is paradoxical. If you look at Indonesia alone, they have renewable energy resources, such as wind, water and geothermal energy, which can deliver 400 GW. This corresponds to 20 times Denmark's capacity, says Jeppe Kofod.
No money for China
The money from the CIF program will, among other things, go to helping developing countries find new ways to produce energy.
- It is absolutely crucial that there are new job opportunities for them - and preferably in the renewable energy industry. We have good experience with this in Denmark, says Kofod.
Recently, China has made headlines all over the world with reports that the country's coal-fired power plants will turn up the heat. China is one of the world's largest emitters of CO2. There are no plans for the rich countries in the initiative to help China phase out coal.
- We must make demands on countries, including China, and it is important that all countries stop exporting coal and invest in coal - both in other countries, but also at home, says the Foreign Minister.
/ritzau/
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